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I 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT 
WE SAW 



A FLYING TRIP THROUGH EGYPT 
SYRIA, AND THE ^GEAN ISLANDS 



BY 



CHARLES MCCORMICK REEVE 



" From lands of snow to lands of sun, 
In search of knowledge, rest, and fun." 




G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON* 

27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD ST. =7 KING WILLIAM ST., STRAND 

£be Xuticlurbockrr ^nss 
1891 




Ube IRntcfterbccfeer jpress, IRew Uorfc 

Electrotyped and Printed by 
G. P. Putnam's Sons 



TO MY FATHER 
GENERAL I. V. D. REEVE, U.S.A. 



FOR WHOSE AMUSEMENT THESE RAMBLING SKETCHES 
WERE WRITTEN 



THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI .... „ I 



CHAPTER II. 

BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA 13 

CHAPTER III. 
ALEXANDRIA 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

CAIRO 38 

CHAPTER V. 

ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS 48 

CHAPTER VI. 

EGYPT AS IT IS 63 

CHAPTER VII. 
UP THE NILE -70 



CHAPTER VIII. 
SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH . . 85 



vl CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGE 

THEBES AND KARNAK 105 

CHAPTER X. 

EDFOO, PHILJE, AND BACK TO CAIRO . . . Il6 

CHAPTER XI. 

CAIRO ( Concluded) ....... 132 

CHAPTER XII. 
EGYPT AS IT WAS 154 

CHAPTER XIII. 
CAIRO TO BEYROUT 162 

CHAPTER XIV. 
BEYROUT 174 

CHAPTER XV. 
THE DRUSES 1 86 

CHAPTER XVI. 
BEYROUT TO BAALBEC — BAALBEC . . . . 1 93 

CHAPTER XVII. 



THE MILLS OF BAALBEC BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS . 211 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
DAMASCUS 226 

CHAPTER XIX. 
DAMASCUS (Continued) 246 



CONTENTS. v » 
CHAPTER XX. 

PAGE 

DAMASCUS (Concluded) 263 



CHAPTER XXI. 
BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER . .273 

CHAPTER XXII. 
CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE ^EGEAN ISLANDS . . 286 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS .... 303 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
CONSTANTINOPLE 320 

CHAPTER XXV. 
CONSTANTINOPLE (Concluded) 343 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
ATHENS . . . 359 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
ATHENS ( Concluded) 374 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
PRACTICAL HINTS . 389 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT 
WE SAW, 



CHAPTER I. 
MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI. 

My good wife and I were dining one Sep- 
tember evening with our friends the C s in 

Minneapolis, when the question came up of a 
winter trip abroad. 

Some one suggested Egypt, and without 
much discussion to Egypt we decided to go. 

We numbered eleven persons. Our ages 
ranged from ten years to sixty ; our disposi- 
tions and tastes were as different as can well 
be imagined ; and when our proposed excur- 
sion was noised abroad many a sage traveller 
shook his head, saying, that if so much incon- 
gruity crossed the Atlantic on board the same 



2 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



steamer, the chances were ten to one that no 
two families would be on speaking terms by 
the time the party landed at Havre. Although 
we were not entirely ignorant of these gloomy 
prognostications, we decided at least to make 
a start in company. And here is the route : 

From New York to Havre ; three days in 
Paris ; thence to Brindisi via Turin and Bo- 
logna ; Austrian Lloyds steamer to Alexandria ; 
a day in that city ; rail to Cairo, where we 
would stay six days ; up the Nile to the 
First Cataract, and back ; six days more in 
Cairo ; rail to Ismailia ; Suez Canal to Port 
Said ; steamer to Jaffa ; nine days in the Holy 
Land ; steamer to Beyrout ; six days for the 
trip to Baalbec and Damascus ; steamer to 
Cyprus, Rhodes, Chios, Smyrna, Mytilene, 
and Constantinople ; five days in the latter 
city ; steamer to Piraeus ; thirty-six hours in 
Athens ; rail to Patras ; and steamer back to 
Brindisi, where the party would certainly 
break up. 

I am well aware of the storm of protest I 
shall raise among a certain class, composed 
chiefly of those with aristocratic proclivities and 
without experience of any kind, when I say 
that the wisdom of our first move was a never 



MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI. 



3 



failing source of gratification throughout the 
entire trip. It was the purchase of round-trip 
tickets, from Paris back to Paris over the route 
indicated, from Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son. 
The price was $710 for each person, and 
included all legitimate travelling expenses of 
every kind and nature, excepting sleeping-car 
,from Paris to Turin, and meals from Paris to 
Brindisi and return. I have travelled with 
these tickets and without them, and I say- 
unhesitatingly that no tourist, even with the 
assistance of the most skilled and honest 
couriers (and these gentlemen are apt to be 
neither the one nor the other), can possibly 
get along so comfortably, safely, or economi- 
cally in the East as when under the auspices of 
Thos. Cook & Son. 

We left New York on the steamer La 
Champagne, of the French line, Saturday 
afternoon, December 29th, and arrived in 
Havre the following Sunday week, before 
noon. 

The passage was uneventful, the passengers 
about as sick as usual ; the general run of 
amusements, such as have been described a 
thousand times or less ; the usual amount of 
money lost and won at poker in the smoking- 



4 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

room, one-franc ante and five-francs limit ; the 
customary bets on the daily " run " ; and the 
usual number of tiresome experiences of those 
who had " crossed before," related after dinner 
in the salon to anybody who would listen. 

We had on board Verestchagin, the great 
Russian scholar, soldier, and artist, who was 
the most retiring great man I have ever met ; 
a young millionaire from Hayti, who lost seven 
thousand francs at baccarat one evening ; and 
M. Bouhy of the Grand Opera, a magnificent 
baritone, who sang the Toreador in " Carmen" 
at its first presentation in Paris ; these being 
the only distinguished passengers — except our- 
selves. We had some fine musicians, singers, 
and players. Many a delightful concert we 
enjoyed, but not one was complete unless M. 
Bouhy sang " II Primo Amore," a Neapolitan 
love-song, which always elicited the most 
uproarious applause. 

We have no words but those of praise for 
the French steamers. Beautifully clean, at- 
tendance the very best, table excellent (barring 
the sour bread), and every one about the ship 
seemingly imbued with the idea that the obli- 
gation of travel was on their side ; a marked 
contrast to the surly, slovenly service of the 



MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI. 



5" 



Cunarders, whose single boast of " fastest 
passage " has been completely eclipsed by the 
wonderful records of the ocean racers of the 
Inman line. 

If one designs visiting the Continent first, it 
is far better to land at Havre than to go to 
Liverpool. Your baggage is checked through 
from New York to Paris, a special train takes 
you from the dock at Havre in about four and 
a half hours to the French capital, and the 
examination of baggage at the latter city is a 
mere form ; while the trip from Liverpool to 
Paris is at least eighteen hours, two custom- 
houses and the English Channel to pass, and 
three transfers of persons and baggage neces- 
sary, while the additional expense is about 
twenty five dollars. The two hours' delay 
while the trunks were being transferred to the 
"special" was spent by a few adventurous 
spirits in walking about the town, but the 
majority of the passengers were too afraid of 
being " left " to stray very far from the cars. 

It was a "keen and nipping air," and we 
looked rather doubtingly at the hot-water 
cans, those pestiferous breeders of chilblains, 
which were to furnish the necessary caloric to 
keep us comfortable. 



6 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



We are apt to make sport of foreigners 
travelling in our well heated cars with their 
"rugs," but in Europe rugs are an absolute 
necessity, not only on the cars, but oftentimes 
in the hotels. 

From Paris there are two routes to Brindisi : 
one by way of Rome and Naples, the other by 
Bologna, very inconvenient, — price the same ; 
time, one day shorter by the latter ; sleeper 
from Paris to Naples, changing at Rome, again 
at Naples, and again at Foggia, but always in 
the daytime. By Bologna you change at 
Turin, where you wait seven hours (not objec- 
tionable, by the way), leave Turin at 9 p.m., no 
sleeper, change at Bologna at 2:40 the next 
morning, and reach Brindisi at 10:45 tnat even- 
ing. By all means take the Naples route for 
comfort. 

We decided to take the former route to give 
the ladies an additional day merely to "look 
around" in Paris. They did not intend to 
regularly " shop " until their return ; they only 
wanted to get a " few necessary things " which 
in the brief three months allowed for prep- 
aration before leaving home, they had quite 
excusably forgotten. 

We left Paris about nine in the evening, 



MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI. 



7 



passed the Alps next morning by the great Mont 
Cenis tunnel, which the guide-book informed 
us is seven miles and three quarters in length, 
and cost $15,000,000, and completed the 496 
miles to Turin at two o'clock that afternoon. 

We had but seven hours in which to see the 
city and get our dinner, but we went about it 
bravely, although it was snowing furiously. 
Despite the unpleasant weather, we could see 
that this city of 250,000 inhabitants was a 
beautiful place. It is regularly laid out, the 
streets are well paved and cleaned, many of 
the buildings are handsome, modern structures, 
and the Academy of Science is a most interest- 
ing edifice. In our hasty tramp through the 
Museum of Antiquities we missed the cele- 
brated Turin Papyrus and " Book of the Dead," 
but in the picture-gallery above, where we 
stayed as long as it was light enough to dis- 
tinguish any thing, we saw some beautiful 
paintings, notably Van Dyke's " Children of 
Charles the First," and " Holy Family," said to 
be by far his finest work in Italy. Ferrari's 
"God the Father," is a strong picture, and I 
liked it far better than the famous " Descent 
from the Cross" ; but among all the paintings 
in the gallery, I saw nothing that pleased me 



8 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

so - well as the four paintings by Albani, "The 
Four Elements." Perhaps one of the most 
celebrated pictures in the collection is Mem- 
ling's " Seven Sorrows of Mary." If they were 
as bad as the picture, poor Mary's lot was not 
a happy one. 

We saw the fine equestrian statue of Em- 
manuel Philibert, and Cavour's monument, and 
then strolled through the arcades, — looking in 
at the windows. 

But the roads are not rough, and were the 
cars comfortably warmed, winter travel would 
not be so bad. The sleeper we had from Paris 
to Turin was a " pony " Mann Boudoir Car, 
with accommodations for twelve persons only. 
We paid $180 for the use of it that night, 
being an equivalent of over twelve dollars and 
a half a section ! There must have been some- 
thing suspicious about us, for when we opened 
negotiations for the use of it for the next night, 
the superintendent blandly informed us that 
the price would be sixteen hundred francs ! 
He evidently had had some experience with 
American relic hunters. In vain we tried to 
make him understand that we had no nefarious 
designs upon his car, as we could not possibly 
take it in our trunks to Egypt. He was ob- 



MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI. 



9 



durate. Three hundred and twenty dollars 
was "bed rock" ; the risk was " extra hazard- 
ous." A few weeks later when one of the 
passengers of the Mohammed A linearly broke 
his neck in a clumsy attempt to carry off 
Belzoni's tomb, or a large part of it, the in- 
cident of the sleeping-car came vividly to my 
mind, and I was obliged reluctantly to admit 
that perhaps after all the railroad official was 
not over-prudent. 

I had always supposed that a shawl-strap 
was a neat bundle consisting of a shawl or rug, 
secured by a couple of straps, connected by a 
handle. I know differently now. From the 
steamer, I started with a most reputable-look- 
ing bundle. Assured by the guard at Turin 
(five francs) that we would not change cars 
that night, I had opened the strap that I might 
use the rug. At Bologna, 2:40 a.m., we were 
hustled out of our compartment, and hastily 
packing, under the able supervision of my wife, 
the inventory was about as follows : one pair 
rubbers, one hot-water bag, one pair leggins, 
one bag — contents unknown, except that when- 
ever I picked it up I invariably ran the sharp 
points of a pair of scissors into my fingers; one 
article of headgear — unnamed, a cross between 



10 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



a seventeenth-century sun-bonnet and a to- 
boggan toque ; 2. bundle of crackers, three 
oranges, and a parasol stuck under the straps 
when the bundle was done up. I protested 
that some at least of these things were out of 
place, but I quickly collapsed on being in- 
formed that a number of articles which 
belonged in the shawl-strap had by some 
oversight been put in the trunks ! I found 
afterwards that this disreputable bundle, still 
called by courtesy a shawl-strap, was no worse 
in appearance than a hundred others, the sight 
of any one of which would have frightened a 
well ordered New England peddler into spasms. 

It was still snowing, and the prospect of a 
hard night was sufficient to scare away all 
thoughts of sleep. One little oil lamp in the 
roof of the car furnishes a truly "dim religious 
light." You can't read ; you can't lie down, 
neither can you stand up. Luckily we had 
but four persons in our compartment, and the 
nearest approach we could get to an easy 
position was to stand a valise up on end for a 
foot-rest, and then stretch out for such com- 
fort as was possible. 

And just as we were dozing, came the sud- 
den call to turn out at Bologna, where, as all 



MINNEAPOLIS TO BRINDISI. 



11 



our time was taken in moving our effects from 
one train to another, we had no opportunity 
to purchase any of the famous sausages. 

It is generally prudent though not always 
necessary to carry a lunch basket on European 
railroads. Sometimes the trains stop for 
meals ; oftener they do not, and the crying 
appetite of a hungry traveller is something 
to be avoided if possible. Tiresome are the 
compartment cars ; the passengers denied all 
opportunity of exercise; one half of them 
obliged to ride backwards, whether or no. 

The dreadful night and the more tedious 
day following wore away at last, and 10:30 
found us at Brindisi, in a pouring rain. How 
the porters did jabber and wrangle for the 
privilege of carrying our trunks through the 
depot to the bus for the customary half-franc 
fee. What a desolate place the hotel appeared, 
without fire in the parlor (?), almost without 
lights ; no supper to be had, and the steamer 
not yet arrived. She was expected every 
moment, so they told us, and so we sat up 
until near midnight in the dreary parlor, too 
hungry to sleep, and too mad to do any thing 
except goad the Squire to the point of pro- 
fanity, his anathemas including every thing 



12 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE. SAW. 



and everybody connected with the railroad, 
the hotel, and the management of the steam- 
ship line. 

At last, being assured that we would be 
called in ample time when the steamer was 
sighted, we reluctantly went to bed, more than 
half convinced that the suggestion was merely 
a scheme of the wily Italian landlord to have 
us miss the steamer, and so we determined to 
sleep with one eye open. Need I say our 
rest was undisturbed ? 



CHAPTER II. 



BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA. 

Morning broke fine and sunny ; we hurried 
out, and there, sure enough, was a stately 
steamer. As we were hastening to go on 
board we suddenly discovered that she was a 
P. & O. steamer from England, on her way 
to Australia. Another bitter disappointment. 
Our steamer had not yet been sighted. 

Towards noon, however, a dingy, dirty old 
relic of past centuries was revealed to our 
searching eyes, slowly rounding the point of 
the harbor on which stands the light-house ; a 
craft apparently fit only for a beggar's hearse, 
doubtless coming in to carry a cargo of gar- 
bage, which could easily be spared from any 
of the streets, far out into the deep blue sea. 
When, after an hour's struggling up the some- 
what narrow channel, she finally came to anchor 
in the offing (I don't know what the " offing" 
is, but I heard a sailor use the word once, 

13 



14 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



and so suppose it must be a correct nautical 
term), and a cynical bystander said, " There 's 
your ship," our hearts sank within us. 

Brindisi is at best a tough place. Built 
chiefly on a hill sloping down to the arm of 
the Adriatic which forms its excellent harbor, 
there is nothing interesting about it. The 
Appian Way ended here in old Brundusium, 
and along this road Horace and his friend and 
patron, Maecenas, made a holiday excursion 
from Rome, four hundred miles away. All 
the guide-books speak of the graphic manner 
in which the poet had described this famous 
journey in "one of his Satires." But as no 
one mentions which Satire it is, I doubt if it is 
very generally read. It is the Fifth Satire, 
Book I., and is a model of brevity, sparkling 
with wit. 

They had a great party : Maecenas, Horace, 
Cocceius, Capito the bosom-friend of Antony, 
Luscus the praetor, Plotius, Varius, and Vir- 
gil. Imagine such a party for a picnic ! 
They were going to Brundusium nominally to 
be present at the friendly meeting between 
Octavius and Antony, but I have always 
suspected that it was a deeply laid scheme 
between these boon companions to get far 



BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA. 



15 



enough away from their wives so they would 
not have to go to bed at ten o'clock. And in 
this Satire I find that Horace is responsible 
for the excuse for drinking wine in Italy, not 
worn so threadbare after 1,926 years but that 
it is still held sufficient : " propter aquam, 
quod erat teterrima." 

Poor Virgil ! Little did he think, when as 
one of that jolly party he visited Brundusium, 
that in a few short years he would come back 
from Athens to die there. 

It must have been a beautiful city in those 
days, and later too, when the princely Crusad- 
ers gathered here their squadrons to embark 
them for the Holy Land, doubtless celebrating 
their departure with many a magnificent enter- 
tainment, as was that when Tancred married 
his son to the daughter of the Greek Emperor. 

The exact spot where the Appian Way is 
supposed to have ended is marked by a grace- 
ful marble column, about fifty feet high, well 
preserved. Near it stands the pedestal of 
another column, now much defaced, the rela- 
tive position of the two giving rise to the 
theory that they originally formed a portion of 
a heathen temple, destroyed by Louis of Hun- 
gary about 1350. 



16 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

The only other object of interest in the 
town is the medieval castle, somewhat restored, 
situated on a height overlooking the town and 
the sea. It is in a good state of preservation 
on two sides, the moat, bastions, donjon-keep, 
gonfalon, and barbecue being about as they 
were in the days of Charles V. It is now 
used for a penitentiary, but the chap in all 
Italy most deserving a front seat inside, is, I 
am sorry to say, still at large. He is the agent 
of the Austrian Lloyds. 

The Austrian Lloyds ! How the heart 
sickens when recalling the horrors of that trip ! 

The boats, judging from the Ettore on 
which we were for three days imprisoned, are 
small, dirty, badly ventilated, not heated, with 
first-cabin accommodations which would dis- 
grace the steerage of most any transatlantic 
line ; all the emigrants, beggars, cattle, and 
filth generally located on the forward part of 
the ship, whence the complication of smells 
wafted astern would put to shame a Chinese 
stink-pot ; a general air of listlessness and in- 
attention characterizing the entire outfit from 
the stewardess, who was the best fellow aboard, 
and I will except her, down to the captain. 

The boat has a strange history. She was 



BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA. 



17 



an ancient Carthaginian trireme which, hav- 
ing escaped the destruction of the fleet by the 
Romans, was purchased by the Austrian Lloyds 
for one hundred sestertii, encumbered with an 
engine and some other machinery, and put on 
the line between Trieste and Alexandria. 

The captain, who was hortator on the ancient 
trireme, was retained by the management, and 
some of the former rowers, captured in the in- 
terior of Africa, now occupy different positions 
of trust about the craft. None of them, I 
learn, have the slightest idea of the uses of the 
barometer or compass, and the management of 
an engine is to them a sealed book. It seems 
strange enough in this nineteenth century to 
be ploughing the historic waves of the blue 
Mediterranean in a craft, upon the deck of 
which perchance Hannibal once stood, the 
sailors steering by the sun and stars, and the 
familiar landmarks of Corfu, Cephalonia, and 
Crete, the only incongruities being the groan- 
ing of the machinery and the presence of the 
All-Minneapolis Eleven. 

This craft left Trieste on Thursday and was 
to have reached Brindisi Friday night at 8:30. 
She had a head wind on Friday and although 
she passed a man a few miles north of Bari, 



18 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



who started at the same time to walk, we heard 
before leaving Brindisi Saturday afternoon, 
thirteen hours late, that the man had reached 
Naples at one o'clock. She had to take coal 
at Brindisi, and although the agent knew this, 
not a move was made to load her barges, by 
the use of hand baskets containing about a 
bushel each, until the steamer put in an ap- 
pearance. This looked like negligence, but it 
is possible that the agent, not really expecting 
her to arrive at all, thought it useless to load 
any coal on to barges which, being of still 
more ancient construction than the steamer, 
would doubtless sink in a few hours' time. 

The arrangements for eating are as execra- 
ble as every thing else connected with the ship. 
Breakfast at 10 a.m., dinner at 5 p.m. ; that is 
all you get with your first-class ticket. The 
restaurant is, however, in full blast all the 
time, and if you have money enough to stand 
the prices a la carte you need n't starve. No 
electric light, no lamps on board. A candle 
reveals the gloom of each state-room. 

In this presumably warm climate they have 
hit on an ingenious way to keep the meals 
sufficiently cool to be eaten. The galley is 
situated just forward of the smoke-stack where 



BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA. 



19 



the coal-heavers congregate, and all the viands 
are carried along the deck and down the com- 
panion-way to the cabin tables. Sometimes a 
wave breaking over the ship adds a little salty 
flavor to the vegetables in transit, and some- 
times a bold, bad sailor, in cahoots with the 
waiters, snatches a leg of chicken off a platter, 
but the passengers being below never know 
of these little incidents. Service very bad, 
and the distance between the galley and the 
tables so great that there is ample time for a 
nap between courses. 

And this brings me naturally to speak of 
the excellent arrangement for reserving rooms 
" in the order of application." 

We telegraphed for ours nearly two months 
before we started. We were " assigned" what 
the German contingent, who got aboard at 
Trieste, would n't take, and when we protest- 
ed, quoting Cook & Son as authority, we were 
asked, in the language of the lamented Tweed, 
what we proposed to do about it. To this 
knock-down argument we made no reply. We 
paid for 842 miles of ocean travel nearly three 
times Atlantic prices, and received accommo- 
dations and treatment which would scandalize 
a Malay pirate. At eight o'clock in the even- 



20 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



ing we had "tea, bread, and butter." The 
butter was a curiosity. Composed, as nearly 
as I could ascertain from a hurried analysis, 
of condemned maccaroni, tallow, crude petro- 
leum, and sand, it was about the consistency 
of Frazer's Axle Grease, for which it might be 
used as a possible substitute w r ere it not for 
two important defects : the sand would cut the 
axles, and the smell would kill the horses. 

The only gleam of intelligence I have been 
able to discover about the management of the 
line lies in the fact that butter was only added 
to our other miseries once a day. 

This was my first intimate acquaintance 
with Germans as tourists, and I never want to 
hear again about the " loud, self-asserting bois- 
terousness " of Americans abroad. Why, these 
people monopolized the ship ; they monopo- 
lized the steamer-chairs ; they monopolized the 
conversation ; and if the food had n't been so 
bad they would have monopolized that. 

They did n't talk, they shouted. Day and 
night, at meals or on deck, it was the same. 
Judge Ames' laugh would be an angel's whis- 
per amid the bedlam they raised at every meal. 
There were some exceptions, of course, notably 
a young Prussian cavalry officer and Prince 
Pullput. I speak of them as a class. 



BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA. 



21 



Sleeping four in a state-room rather con- 
duces to familiarity. Two of the fellows in 
the room with me snored, and in the silent 
watches of the night, from my point of vantage 
in the upper berth, I amused myself by poking 
first one and then another with an umbrella 
which hung conveniently at hand. Sometimes 
I made a mistake and punched the wrong 
man, as I did one night, when a vigorous prod 
in the ribs brought this forcible protest from 

our worthy ex-mayor : " What the d 1 are 

you poking me for ? I 'm awake ! " 

The ancient mariners of the Ettore hav- 
ing fearlessly pursued their watery way in a 
general direction toward the African coast, 
steering by the stars, sighted the Alexandria 
light about 8 p.m. They kept up the appear- 
ance of navigating the ship according to 
modern usages pretty well the last day, for 
about 4:30 p.m., after a cloudless noon, I saw a 
gentleman in uniform standing on the star- 
board side of the trireme, thoughtfully regard- 
ing the sun through the wrong end of a rusty 
sextant ! The observation must have been 
satisfactory, for he immediately went into the 
galley and communicated the result to the cook, 
whereupon both indulged in a triumphant 
paean. The Alexandria light is built upon 



22 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

the island of Pharos, where the celebrated 
Pharos stood more than two thousand years 
ago, which was built by one of the Ptolemies, 
entirely of white marble, with a covered circular 
ascent on the outside, wide enough to drive a 
chariot up to the top ; height and general 
dimensions unknown. Unlike modern light- 
houses it was a square, consisted of stories, 
diminishing in size toward the top. It cost 
about a million dollars, which in those times, 
was as much as five millions would be now. 
The architect, Sostratus, of Cnidus, was a 
clever chap in more ways than one. He 
carved his own name on the marble of the 
building, covered it with stucco, and on the 
latter inscribed the name of " King Ptolemy." 
The stucco fell off after a few years, and 
although the name of the king was not forgot- 
ten, the name of the architect was preserved. 

The structure was destroyed, probably about 
the year 1400 by the Arabs, who, not being 
able to navigate any thing but a camel across 
a sea of sand, had no use for a light-house. 



CHAPTER III. 



ALEXANDRIA. 

Much of the picturesqueness of disembark- 
ing at Alexandria is destroyed by the steamer 
landing at the dock instead of discharging 
passengers by small boats, as formerly. But 
the change brought us a terrible fright. I was 
just emerging from my room when I met Lew 

C , tearing along the cabin, hat gone, 

evidently much excited. " Great Scott," he 
shouted as he flew past, "we have been 
boarded by pirates ! " I faced about, hastily 
clutched a loaf of the ship's bread from the 
table before me, determined to sell my life as 
dearly as possible, and sure enough, down the 
companion-way, came tumbling the Turks. 
Intimidated by my threatening aspect they 
paused, and touching their fezes said, " Kuk, 
kuk, kuk." With a sudden inspiration I fell 
on the neck of the tall, gayly caparisoned 
Mussulman nearest me, and my over-wrought 

23 



24 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



nature found relief in tears. I had recognized 
the great originator of the "personally con- 
ducted parties," Cook Pasha. Immediately on 
making ourselves known we were taken in 
charge by Mr. Mill, a charming young English- 
man, our baggage cared for, the custom-house 
passed with the slightest possible formality, 
and we conducted to the Hotel Abbas, as 
clean, airy, and comfortable a caravansary as 
one would wish to stop at. 

Excellent service, excellent table, not much 
surpassed by the famous Binda in Paris. We 
used Cooks hotel coupons in the East, and I 
assert that everywhere, instead of having the 
worst, as these coupons are popularly supposed 
to provide, we received the very best. 

Of the ancient city of Alexandria, B.C. 323, 
which, in its palmiest days with 600,000 
inhabitants, was second only in wealth and 
importance to imperial Rome, absolutely 
nothing remains, except " Pompey's Pillow," 
as I heard it called. This ancient monument, 
erected in the year 302 by the prefect Pom- 
peius, and not by Pompey the Great, to 
commemorate the victory of the Emperor 
Diocletian over Achilleus, a local usurper, 
stands on a " commanding elevation," so 



ALEXANDRIA. 



25 



called in this flat country, about sixty feet 
above the sea. 

It consists of shaft, base, capital, and pedes- 
tal, but the two latter seem to be of inferior 
workmanship and unfinished. The shaft is of 
red granite, highly polished, and whether or 
not a statue pf any kind formerly graced the 
top, it is a monument worthy to commemorate 
the greatest achievement in the life of any 
man. The entire height of the pillar is about 
a hundred feet, while the shaft is a monolith 
seventy-three feet long and twenty-nine feet in 
circumference ! 

There is an ancient picture in Alexandria of 
this monument, with the statue of a man on 
the top, and it is highly probable that this 
statue, unable to stand the peculiar odor 
arising from the adjacent Moslem cemetery, 
came down from his lofty perch many centu- 
ries ago. 

After breakfast we started out for a walk 
through the bazaars. My only knowledge of 
bazaars had been obtained from those gor- 
geous tents and booths which one encounters 
at church fairs in America, — where you buy 
something for ten cents, and get back no 
change for a five-dollar bill. The custom is 



26 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Oriental I find, although they only ask here a 
hundred per cent, more than they expect to 
take. 

While there are many fine modern stores 
in the city owned by Greeks and other Eu- 
ropeans, there still remain certain quarters 
where trade is entirely in the hands of Ar- 
menians, Turks, and Egyptians. The shops, 
or " bazaars, " are from eight to ten feet 
square, opening on an arcade or street. In 
the doorway or opening (the entire front of 
many of them being removed during business 
hours) sits the merchant, his goods piled up 
behind him. Blankets, rugs, cotton and linen 
cloths, tobacco, silk scarfs and spreads from 
Syria and Mecca, probably made in New 
Jersey ; some shoes, more slippers, generally 
red or russet, of the same shape as those worn 
by the Egyptians centuries ago, each shoe- 
shop generally making a specialty of some 
particular color. There was an apparent in- 
congruity at the sight of a lineal descendant of 
Thothmes III., making a shoe with the assist- 
ance of a Howe sewing-machine, but the jolly 
old fellow, as he worked the treadle, informed 
us that it was " all right." Vegetables and 
fruits of all sorts ; fish and meat — all carcasses 



ALEXANDRIA. 



27 



bearing the pink " inspection " mark ; nuts of 
all kinds, seeds and wood, the latter sold by 
weight ; bake-shops and wine-shops, cafes and 
tin-shops, — all jumbled together in hopeless 
confusion. 

Here we saw, for the first time, water sold 
at so much a drink. The carrier had a goat- 
skin, fitted with a long neck in which was a 
stopper of some kind, slung across his shoul- 
der ; in his right hand a brass or china cup, 
oftentimes two, which he clattered together, 
attracting attention, when he got tired calling 
in clarion tones the fact that he had something 
drinkable for sale. We saw travelling grocery 
houses, each consisting of a bare-legged Arab 
with a basket of vegetables or fruits, carry- 
ing a pair of the most preposterous steel- 
yard scales, large enough to weigh him and 
his entire stock. These chaps sold lettuce, 
cabbages, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, dates, 
oranges, pomegranates, watermelons, nuts of 
all kinds, fresh fish, all by weight. I never 
saw them use but one weight, rather small it 
seemed on the enormous brass scale, and light 
it must have been, judging from the very 
modest amount of merchandise which was 
placed to offset it in the other scale, and when 



28 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



on numerous occasions I detected the grocer 
lifting on the weight side to even things up, I 
concluded that Oriental grocers had solved 
the vexed problem of short weights. We saw 
all sorts of people, Arab women with black 
veils, and Arab girls without ; Bedouins from 
the desert, with formidable guns of abnormal 
length, more dangerous to the fellow at the 
butt end than at the muzzle in case of a 
discharge ; black Nubians with faces shiny as 
ebony ; small boys playing Egyptian jack- 
stones, antiquated landaus, and long low drays, 
load enough empty for the meek little donkeys 
which drew them. 

In one place we were attracted by the sight 
of a gigantic ram, large enough to have carried 
Hero and Leander, but his fleece was far from 
being golden. He was a celebrated warrior, 
brought into a hostile locality to do battle 
with the champion of the place, but the owner 
of the latter was absent and so we regretfully 
moved on, missing the fight. In another street 
we saw three beautiful little gazelles running 
about, tame as kittens, while near them, two 
girls were playing with a couple of buffalo 
calves, mouse-color, apparently about two 
months old. Near the park were some boys 



ALEXANDRIA. 



29 



playing a game with a bone, which they 
snapped with their fingers, for lozenges, the 
game being to have it fall a certain side up in 
order to count. 

It was a bewildering scene for us after the 
somewhat monotonous deck of the valiant 
Ettore, and nothing would have tempted us 
to leave it all except breakfast at 12:30. 

The menu was about as follows : 

Rice and cheese, 

Cold tongue and boned chicken, 

Veal cooked in batter, with green peas, 

Chops and fried potatoes, 

Two kinds of cheese, 

Coffee. 

On the table were apples (from Austria), 
oranges, bananas, figs, pickles, nuts, bread, and 
alleged butter. 

Everybody is good-natured, and beggars 
are neither numerous nor importunate. The 
occupation of the traditional donkey boy is 
here about gone. Cabs are very plenty, com- 
fortable and cheap. We had seen so many 
genuine Egyptians selling nougat on Nicollet 
Avenue that the costumes of the men did n't 
interest us much, except where they were par- 
ticularly gorgeous, as in the case of some 



30 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

porters and footmen. But the custom of 
married women having the lower portion of 
their faces covered was novel to us. The 
veil is stretched across the face just below the 
eyes, and directly over the bridge of the nose 
is an ornament made of gold or brass, accord- 
ing to the condition of the wearer. It is 
hollow, about an inch and a quarter long, worn 
vertically, looks like a section of f-brass pipe 
with three ribs around it, and is held in place 
by a string running through it, attached to 
the veil-cord in front, running up over the 
head and attached to the same cord behind. 
Some of the women wore anklets, but I did n't 
like to look at them. Most of the women 
black their eyes, (a custom borrowed from 
America I am told) and many of them, as well 
as the men, stain their finger-nails and some- 
times the entire insides of their hands. Of 
the famous buildings, the Museum, Library, 
Serapeum, and Caesarium, not a vestige now 
remains. Of the Museum, founded by Ptol- 
emy Soter, we know little or nothing, beyond 
the fact that it was a great institution richly 
endowed, and in its schools every known 
branch of the arts and sciences was taught. 
Famous scholars flocked to it from all over 



ALEXANDRIA. 



31 



the world. Its fame soon completely eclipsed 
that of the renowned college of Heliopolis, 
and its students were numbered by thousands. 
It is highly probable that in general design it 
was modelled after the schools of Athens ; 
the main building being surrounded by a 
peristyle, where teachers and pupils sat or 
walked as they conversed. 

The translation of the Bible by the seventy- 
two wise men from Jerusalem or thereabouts 
was undertaken and completed here by order 
of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who paid for the 
work, according to Josephus, upwards of a 
million and a quarter of money. Judging 
from the average value of brains in all ages, 
the enormous cost of the work can only be 
explained on the hypothesis that the wise men 
struck before the completion of the job, and 
none of the rest of the boys in the union could 
be induced to take their places. 

Of the two libraries, that of the Museum 
seems to have been the more important, as it 
contained 400,000 volumes, while the one in 
the Serapeum contained but 300,000. This 
was also founded by Ptolemy Soter, and at 
the close of the succeeding reign contained 
upwards of 100,000 volumes, a number almost 



32 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

beyond belief when we consider the great 
difficulty in obtaining books of any sort. It 
was said to contain at least one copy of every 
known work, and in collecting these the end 
seemed to justify the means. When possible, 
books were purchased ; sometimes borrowed 
and copies made ; sometimes borrowed — and 
never returned, as with us. All books brought 
into the country by individuals were seized, 
copies made, and these given to the owners, 
while the originals were retained by the 
Library. One of these Ptols was a biblio- 
maniac, and wanted nothing but originals. 
The city of Athens had some rare copies of 
famous poems, which he tried in vain to 
purchase. The Athenians would n't sell ; but 
in a generous moment offered to lend. He 
borrowed ; had some magnificent copies made 
— and sent them back in place of the originals ! 
This Library was accidentally destroyed by 
fire during the occupancy of Alexandria by 
Julius Caesar. The other Library, although 
of vast importance, since it contained the 
collections of the kings of Pergamus, 200,000 
volumes, was plundered from time to time of 
many of its treasures, until at the time of its 
destruction by the Moslems it had deteriorated 
greatly in character. 



ALEXANDRIA. 



33 



The Serapeum was a temple unequalled in 
magnificence by any building in the world, 
with the possible exception of the Capitol of 
Rome. It comprised a number of buildings, 
and although primarily a temple for the wor- 
ship of the god Serapis, it contained within 
its precincts the Library above mentioned, 
and some schools. Gibbon thus describes it : 
"The Temple of Serapis, which rivals the 
pride and magnificence of the Capitol, was 
erected on the spacious summit of an artificial 
mount raised one hundred steps above the 
level of the adjacent parts of the city, and the 
interior cavity was supported by arches and 
distributed into vaults and subterraneous 
apartments. The consecrated buildings were 
surrounded by a quadrangular portico ; the 
stately halls, the exquisite statues, displayed 
the triumph of art, and the treasures of ancient 
learning were preserved in the famous Alex- 
andrian Library which had arisen with new 
splendor from its ashes." 

History records in the destruction of this 

magnificent edifice by the early Christians 

(about a.d. 389), whose horror of the worship 

of Serapis was fanatically directed against the 

senseless stones and columns of the temple, as 
3 



34 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



great an act of vandalism as ever disgraced 
the annals of the world. 

These were the more important of the many 
superb buildings which characterized the an- 
cient city of Alexandria, a city containing, as 
late as a.d. 641, "4,000 palaces, as many baths, 
12,000 gardens, and 400 places of amusement." 

The people were remarkable in many par- 
ticulars. Gibbon says of them : 

" Idleness was unknown. Some were em- 
ployed in blowing glass, others in weaving 
linen, others again in manufacturing the 
papyrus. Either sex and every age was 
engaged in the pursuits of industry, nor did 
even the blind or the lame want occupation 
suited to their condition. But the people of 
Alexandria, a various mixture of nations, 
united the vanity and inconstancy of the 
Greeks with the superstition and obstinacy of 
the Egyptians. The most trifling occasion — 
a transient scarcity of flesh or lentils, the 
neglect of an accustomed salutation, a mistake 
of precedency in the public baths, or even a 
religious dispute — was sufficient to kindle a 
sedition among the vast multitude, whose 
resentments were furious and implacable." 

Captured and plundered again and again, 



ALEXANDRIA. 



55 



this proud metropolis was nearly obliterated 
from the face of the earth, and in 1777 was 
nothing more than a miserable Arab village 
of about six thousand souls. The only points 
of interest, the authenticity of which is at all 
reliable, are the site of Caesar's camp, the 
place where Augustus defeated the followers 
of Antony, and the cove near which the great 
Napoleon landed one night in 1798. 

The modern city, which owes its prosperity 
primarily to Mohammed Ali, is a province by 
itself, with a governor, and a council composed 
of natives and Europeans, " 'alf and 'alf." 
Each ward of the city is under control of a 
native sheik, who collects the taxes and is in a 
general way accountable for the entire guild. 
The modern portion of the city is handsomely 
built up, the streets well paved, well lighted, 
and kept very clean. Many of the buildings, 
both public and private, are very fine. The 
police are a well-trained and efficient body of 
mounted men under the command of Euro- 
peans ; and crime, in a general way, is not 
common. The city has a water supply from 
the Nile, and the water is as good as any one 
need care to drink. I was surprised to find 
how easy it was for us, after having been 



36 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



totally unable to drink any Croton water on 
the French steamer (where wine was free), to 
accustom ourselves to Nile water, where wine 
costs three francs a bottle. 

We were fortunate in being allowed to see 
a modern residence, belonging to Mr. Antoni- 
ades, a Greek cotton merchant. It is situated 
on the banks of the Mahmoodeeyeh canal, the 
fashionable location for summer residences, and 
the grounds comprise about one hundred acres, 
filled with statues, fountains, flowers, fruits 
and tropical plants of all kinds. The palace 
is on the general plan of Eastern dwellings, 
magnificently furnished and ready for occu- 
pancy at a moment's notice, although the 
owner spends most of his time at his city resi- 
dence. I was particularly impressed with the 
beauty of two bronze vases of Indian manu- 
facture, upwards of six feet high and elabo- 
rately ornamented with figures in bas- and alto- 
relievo. They must have been worth a king's 
ransom. The perfect order in which the 
grounds are kept may be inferred from the 
fact that in this country of cheap labor it cost 
$15,000 a year to maintain them. 

The Mahmoodeeyeh canal was built by Mo- 
hammed Ali in 1 8 19. It extends from the 



ALEXANDRIA. 



37 



Rosetta branch of the Nile to the sea, fifty 
miles, is one hundred feet wide, cost a million 
and a half of dollars, and of the 250,000 men 
required to dig it, upwards of 20,000 perished 
during its construction. It is navigable for the 
largest dahabeeyahs, and is used largely for the 
transportation of cotton, grain, and sugar. 
The only other modern works of any interest 
are the breakwater and mole ; the former com- 
posed of 26,000 blocks of concrete, weighing 
about twenty tons each. It is twenty feet wide 
and ten feet above sea level. Inside, the slope is 
covered with 55,000 tons of rubble stone, and 
85,000 tons of quarry blocks, weighing from 
two to six tons each. It is about 10,000 feet 
long. The mole is 3,000 feet long, 100 feet 
wide on top, built in forty feet of water and 
twenty feet of mud. 

Alexandria now contains about 240,000 
people, of whom 50,000 are Europeans. One 
day is sufficient to spend here. 



CHAPTER IV. 



CAIRO. 

The trip from Alexandria to Cairo by rail 
(128 miles) is without particular interest ex- 
cept as the road passes through the very fertile 
region of the Delta. No idea of the fer- 
tility of this section can be formed without 
seeing it. The soil varies from nothing, on 
the edge of the desert, to thirty feet where 
the inundation of the Nile is deepest. Every 
thing grows luxuriantly, except honesty. The 
vegetation, however, is not tropical, as is gen- 
erally supposed, the chief products being corn, 
wheat, cotton, sugar-cane, oranges, lemons, 
alfalfa, and a general assortment of vegeta- 
bles. Date palms flourish, and banana trees 
try to, with but doubtful success, for the region 
is not south of the frost line by a good deal. 
Thousands of cattle, mostly buffalo, are seen 
grazing amid the rich fields of clover, but 
they all seem to be the lineal offspring of the 

38 



CAIRO. 



39 



lean and ill-favored kine of Pharaoh, for I 
did not see a fat ox or cow in all Egypt. 
They either are, or are not, properly speaking, 
the bison, but I have forgotten which. They 
have no fur like our buffalo, only thin hair. I 
think if they were treated to a good applica- 
tion of Mrs. Allen's Hair Restorative they 
might raise fur enough to keep them warm. 
Perhaps it is the cold that makes them so 
poor, for most of the time we were in Egypt 
we wore Minnesota winter clothing, arctics 
and fur wraps alone being barred. Goats are 
numerous, sheep comparatively few, but of 
good size. I only saw one good honest-looking 
cow in the country, and from the way the peo- 
ple stared at her as she was being led through 
the streets of Cairo, I imagine she must have 
been a good deal of a curiosity even to the na- 
tives. There are some horses, more mules, most 
donkeys. The donkeys are apparently the same 
breed as the burros of Mexico, act like them, 
and look as they would look if clipped. They 
have the same preposterous ears and the same 
mournful laugh. The saddles are ornamented 
with a pommel which looks as if it was suffer- 
ing from a terrible swelling, useless for any 
purpose so far as I was able to learn ; while 



40 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

there is nothing behind to prevent a fellow 
from slipping off at any sudden acceleration 
of speed of the donkey. But riding a Cairo 
donkey is n't a very unpleasant method of lo- 
comotion after all. It is wonderful how big 
some of the riders are, and how little the 
donkeys are. I have seen an enormous 
lazy Egyptian, weighing perhaps 275 pounds, 
mounted on a donkey whose body certainly 
was no larger than that of a good-sized mas- 
tiff, and he did n't act a bit as if he was 
ashamed of himself. True, there are some 
fine large specimens of the breed (donkeys, 
not Egyptians), and such are worth as much 
as a good horse. I have forgotten the cam- 
els. I guess we saw a million of them. 
They are the great freight carriers, but as sad- 
dle animals they are not a success. They are 
not popular even with the Arabs, because, in 
order to ride them, one is obliged to go 
through about as many motions swaying back- 
wards and forwards as do the howling der- 
vishes. Camels are sold by the ton, I believe, 
donkeys by the pound. A good camel is 
worth from $60 to $75, a good donkey from 
$100 to $150. The donkey-boy of Egypt has 
grown to be an old man, in most instances. 



CAIRO. 



41 



One day I made up my mind to try a donkey 
ride. The dragoman told me to mount the 
first one I saw standing by the side of the 
street, and the owner would immediately show 
up. I did so, and started the donkey in the 
direction of the hotel, but was hardly under 
way when I was sensible of an easy gliding 
motion, and found myself sitting on the small 
portion of the donkey abaft the saddle and 
rapidly sitting on nothing at all. By a des- 
perate effort I regained the saddle, and look- 
ing around to see the cause of this uncalled-for 
and unwelcome disturbance, I beheld a ven- 
erable Moslem trotting alona- on our starboard 
quarter, prodding the donkey about every ten 
seconds. Our relations being somewhat 
strained, neither the Arab nor myself had any 
thing to say until we reached the hotel. The 
dragoman, who had gone ahead by the carriage 
with the rest of the party, was awaiting our 
arrival. " How much must I pay?" " Two 
piasters " (ten cents). Is this the traditional 
donkey-boy of Cairo ? Yes, only he grew up 
about sixty-five years ago ; so it seems to be 
" Once a donkey-boy, always a donkey-boy." 
Of all the melancholy objects I saw in Cairo, 
except Captain Squire D. the first morning he 



42 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



tasted the hotel butter, the saddest was the 
Egyptian mule. He is the outcast among the 
four-footed fraternity — " Nobody's darling." 
His mane hangs in straggling locks, his tail is 
untrimmed, his hair grows the wrong way, his 
ears are abnormally long. He indulges in 
none of the playful gambols of the American 
mule. He is an exotic, not long for this 
region, except his ears. Nor is this all : his 
very presence has exerted a baleful influence 
on the goats, for their ears are three times as 
long as they ought to be. The horses are 
small, excepting those brought here by Euro- 
peans, but are active, hardy, and serviceable. 
They are proud also. The Cairo hack horse 
will take more whipping in contemptuous 
silence than any animal I ever saw. " He 
who has not seen the city of Cairo has not 
seen the world. Her soil is gold, her women 
an enchantment, and the Nile a wonder." 

The general impression to the contrary not- 
withstanding, Cairo is, comparatively speak- 
ing, a modern city, having been founded about 
the year 969 under the Fatemite dynasty, if 
anybody knows what that was. Old Cairo 
preserves much of its Oriental character, but 
the new portion of the city is essentially 



CAIRO. 



43 



modern, the streets broad and macadamized. 
There are fine sidewalks too, bordered by 
beautiful acacia trees, which in this climate 
grow luxuriantly. The population crowds 
400,000, and is rapidly increasing. Among 
the relics of antiquity we find here the tele- 
phone, electric lights, gas, sewers, water-works, 
cheap cabs, pin-pool, and the American bar. 
Street cars have not yet appeared, as the gov- 
ernment has refused to grant any concession 
for this improvement. Reason not given. Of 
the population of course native Egyptians are 
the most numerous, but there are about 
twenty-five thousand Europeans residing here. 
The city forms a separate district with its 
own governor and courts. The various trades 
here, as in Alexandria, have their different 
sheiks who have general jurisdiction in all 
questions of minor importance arising be- 
tween members of any particular trade. The 
following approximate division of the people, 
according to the various larger guilds, is inter- 
esting rather than instructive : 

Porters, 15,000 ; street venders of cakes, 
bread, etc., 12,000; glaziers, 10,000; boatmen, 
10,000 ; donkey and camel drivers, 8,000 ; 
water carriers, 2,000 ; keepers of cafes, 3,- 



44 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



500 ; drapers, 3,000 ; goldsmiths, 3,000, and 
so on. 

The climate is as fruitful a source of men- 
dacity in Cairo as elsewhere. Here is an 
" authority " : " Nothing can be pleasanter 
than the climate of Cairo during the winter 
months. The days are warm and bright — 
rain seldom falls." Here are the facts. We 
were in Cairo five days ; on three of these it 
rained — one day was clear and beautiful. The 
gentlemen of our party wore overcoats in ad- 
dition to their usual winter clothing. Every 
night was so chilly that we gathered around 
the coal fire in the reading-rooms to keep 
warm, and three blankets were none too many 
for comfort during the night. Fortunately we 
did not go for climate, and unfortunately it 
was a " most unusual winter," we were told. 
Neither this climate, nor that of Italy, nor the 
boasted balmy temperature of the Riviera can 
compare with that of old Mexico as a winter 
resort. We Americans go to the ends of the 
earth in search of that which oftentimes may be 
found at our very doors. The streets of Cairo, 
excepting the bazaars and camels, afford no 
more interesting scenes than do the streets of 
old Mexico. The plants and fruits of Lower 



CAIRO. 



45 



Egypt will not compare with those of the land 
of Anahuac, while if those Nubians, Copts, 
Soudanese, and Arabs who form the Egyptian 
band which plays daily in Esbekeeyeh gardens 
could but once hear the enchanting music 
of the musicians of the Alameda or the Grand 
Plaza, they would through sheer envy at once 
precipitate themselves from the nearest em- 
bankment into the turbid waters of the Nile. 
I will admit that the drives of Cairo, as well 
as the buildings of the city, are far more beau- 
tiful than those of Mexico, but for cloudless, 
sunny winter skies ; clear, pure, balmy air 
ladened with the perfume of countless flow- 
ers ; scenery characterized by that unspeakable 
grandeur which snow-clad mountains rising 
abruptly from fertile fields and flowery gar- 
dens alone can impart, the ancient capital 
of the Montezumas is without an equal on 
this earth. 

I cannot undertake a description of Cairo. 
To speak of its street scenes after the inimita- 
ble pen-pictures of Geo. William Curtis would 
require the assurance of a German tourist ! 
To treat slightingly its mosques would be, I 
fear, to parade my own ignorance of Arabian 
architecture. But somehow in contemplation 



46 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

of the monuments of a civilization, in many 
respects unparalleled in the annals of history, 
the achievements of later days here at least 
may unwittingly be robbed of their just meed 
of praise. You stand upon the parapet of the 
famous citadel built by Saladin, which was not 
much of a location for a fort after all, as it 
is commanded by higher ground immediately 
in the rear, and you are beneath the shadow 
of the walls of the world-renowned mosque of 
Mohammed Ali, whose lofty and graceful min- 
arets, conspicuous from every quarter about 
Cairo, are bewitchingly beautiful : for go where 
you may your eyes involuntarily wander tow- 
ard the hill where stand these airy spires. 
Before you is the mosque of Sultan Hassan, 
the " superb " mosque, said to be the finest 
specimen of Arabian architecture in the world ; 
it has stood scarce five hundred years and yet 
it is crumbling to decay ; but a few years more 
and its magnificent gateway, " unrivalled in its 
imposing dimensions," will be but a Moslem 
tradition. And yet you look across and be- 
yond this city of yesterday to the other side of 
the valley, and there in solitary grandeur tower 
the monuments of an age forgotten, a civiliza- 
tion unmeasured and unknown ; one of them 



CAIRO. 



47 



at least despoiled to build this pigmy struc- 
ture at our feet. Dry details furnish no ade- 
quate conception of these unique tombs. As 
you look at them from this distance you do 
not see the sadly mutilated condition which 
shocks you on a closer inspection. There 
they stand perfect in outline and proportion, 
the first and greatest wonder of the world ; 
incomparable ; mysteries as well as marvels in 
stone. We know by whom they were built, 
and for what. We know that during the 
dreary years of their construction by a cruelly 
oppressed people thousands perished annually 
of the teeming multitudes which labored upon 
them. But the enlightenment of the nine- 
teenth century, the cunning skill of modern 
science, abandons in despair all efforts to solve 
the problem of their construction. 



CHAPTER V. 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 

It is said that Mohammed looked upon 
" Damascus the Beautiful " from the hills 
which surround the white city, and sought 
no nearer acquaintance. We should have 
done so with the Pyramids. From the days 
when impious hands tore the casing stones 
from the Mausoleum of Cheops to build the 
mosque of Sultan Hassan, down to to-day, the 
place has been infested with a howling, shout- 
ing, quarrelling gang of Arabs ; and to cap the 
climax of incongruity some descendant of 
Baalam's ass has erected a cheap flag-staff on 
top of the Great Pyramid. But one outrage 
remains to be perpetrated. The flag to grace 
the staff is yet to be flung to the breeze. It 
will doubtless bear the legend : " Use Perry 
Davis Pain Killer." Of course we made the 
trip to the pyramids, " B.C. 4235." Every one 
makes it, and many, I think, are disappointed. 

48 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



49 



Not with the Pyramids themselves, battered 
and disfigured as they are, but with the infer- 
nal gang of howling Arabs who live off tour- 
ists. The drive, of an hour and a half's dura- 
tion, from the city, is over a perfect road lined 
on either side by beautiful acacia trees. The 
sheik who is accountable for the behavior of 
this particular tribe is a fine old fellow, and 
wherever any violation of his rules comes 
under his notice, he promptly makes an exr 
ample of the offender. But he does not 
understand the feeling of awe, I had almost 
said reverence, with which the intelligent trav- 
eller regards the Pyramids. You are assigned 
to three stalwart fellows who, without pay, 
are to see you safely to the top of the Great 
Pyramid and down again. If you give them 
any thing, it is entirely in the nature of a 
gratuity. The ascent begins directly over the 
entrance. Then you walk along the ledge to 
the northwest corner, and in a general way 
you climb up that corner. An Arab on each 
side of you takes you by the hand, one fel- 
low behind to boost. All talk English after 
a fashion, are careful, dignified, and seem 
to appreciate the solemnity of the occasion. 
Fatal delusion ! After working upwards for 

4 



50 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

one hundred feet or so they tell you to sit 
down and rest, which you gladly do. A fourth 
chap, hitherto unnoticed, now approaches you 
with a water-bottle and urges you to "wettee 
ze mout." With the excitement, the heat and 
the dust, your mouth is a little dry and you 
comply. Error No. i. Up another hundred 
feet and another rest. One of the Arabs now 
kneels down before and, grabbing your leg 
below the knee, commences to work it back- 
ward and forward. You look inquiringly at 
the others and they say with a patronizing 
air : " Ze doctor ; he makee you be not so ver 
lame to-morrow." Lucky, indeed ! you think 
to yourself to have " Ze doctor " as one of 
your retainers. Error No. 2. For you after- 
wards learn that every one in the party was 
similarly blessed. Your escort now begin to 
chatter in very bad English, having evidently 
exhausted their stock phrases. You look 
down, and the sight is calculated to make 
your flesh creep. A single false step and you 
would go bounding down this rocky steep 
only to reach the bottom a shapeless mass. 
" Did any one ever fall down here ? " " Yes. 
Sometime. No have ver good Arab guide. 
He make you satisfied. No have doctor he 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



51 



make you too satisfied." This information does 
not reassure you much. There seems to be such 
a frail margin between you and death. At the 
next resting-place the " doctor," who is too 
much blown to be able to attend further to 
your physical comforts for the morrow, pro- 
duces from the folds of his one voluminous 
garment sundry copper coins of doubtful 
antiquity, which he offers at the preposterous 
price of twenty-five cents each ! You don't 
want the coins : you can buy thousands of 
them in the streets of Cairo for a piastre each 
(five cents). You want to be let alone. If you 
make the suggestion, you are immediately 
notified that every one buys some coins " when 
he going up top." You have come with the 
fixed determination that you will not be im- 
posed upon. You glance downward with a 
shudder. Suppose these fellows, angry be- 
cause you do not patronize them, should 
accidentally allow you to slip off! Horrible 
thought ! Usual verdict of an American jury : 
" No one to blame." Better buy all the bogus 
antiquities in Egypt than take the chance. 
You temporize. Third, last, and greatest error. 
" I will buy some before we get down," or 
words to that effect. And now, at every step 



52 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

on the way up, on the summit, and on the way 
down, coins, images, gods, and idols make 
their appearance as if by magic. Your sedate, 
dignified Arabs, fit (?) custodians of the Pyra- 
mids, do nothing but pester you to buy, buy, 
buy ! If you buy from one, what is to prevent 
the other two from giving you a quiet lift into 
eternity ! One more step and you are on the 
top. Not a moment to breathe, not an instant 
to look upon the magnificent panorama, is 
allowed you. Now that you are safely on the 
top, you must buy. Your escort shout in 
unison, with a fair show of sham enthusiasm : 
" Hip, hip, hurray ! Yankee doodle ! " and 
if, disgusted and outraged in feeling as you 
most excusably are, you fail to respond, they 
seem much surprised. 

But the views from the summit are su- 
perb. " On the one hand a mighty sea 
bf yellow sand stretched away towards the 
ends of the earth, solemn, silent, shorn of 
vegetation, its solitude uncheered by any 
forms of creature life ; on the other, the 
Eden of Egypt was spread below us — a broad 
green floor cloven by the sinuous river, dotted 
with villages, its vast distances measured and 
marked by the diminishing stature of receding 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



53 



clusters of palms. It lay asleep in an en- 
chanted atmosphere. There was no sound, 
no motion. Above the date-palms, in the 
middle distance, swelled a domed and pin- 
nacled mass glimmering through a tinted, ex- 
quisite mist ; away towards the horizon a dozen 
shapely pyramids watched over ruined Mem- 
phis ; and at our feet the bland, impassable 
Sphynx looked out upon the picture from her 
throne in the sands as placidly and pensively 
as she had looked upon its like full fifty 
lagging centuries ago." The venders are at 
this point rudely thrust aside, not, however, 
without a roaring protest, by a party hitherto 
unnoticed, probably because they came up the 
other side of the Pyramid, one of whom under- 
takes for five shillings ($1.25) to descend the 
Pyramid of Cheops, cross the intervening 
space of three hundred yards, I should say, 
and ascend the Pyramid Cephren in twelve 
minutes by the watch. It had taken us half 
an hour to get up. The second pyramid is 
still more difficult of ascent, as some of the 
casing-stones are still in situ near the top. 
The feat is an apparent impossibility. We 
close the bargain at once in the grim hope that 
the sheik's followers may be decreased in num- 



54 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

ber by at least one rascal, and away the fellow 
goes : down our pyramid in two minutes and a 
half, across the intervening sand in a minute and 
a half ; and now for the other pyramid. He 
has dropped his long black mantle on the sand 
and commenced the ascent. Back and forth 
he goes in a zigzag up the face nearest us, 
until in exactly nine and one half minutes from 
the time he started he is waving his hand from 
the summit of Cephren ! He has often done 
it in eight minutes. Seventeen fellows, each 
claiming to be his brother, now step modestly 
forward and claim the money. On the verge 
of drivelling idiocy I still had sense enough 
to retain the cash until it could be given to the 
right man. Disappointed, but not with the 
magnificent view ; disgusted, that not a mo- 
ment was allowed for thought, despairing at 
the impossibility of conjuring up a single 
vision of the stately past amid the babel of 
the degenerate present, I was perfectly willing 
to commence the descent. This is made by 
the southeast corner, and is comparatively 
easy. The booster of the ascent unwraps his 
turban, ties it around your body under your 
arms, and going behind acts as a sort of ani- 
mated breeching. I think you are piloted up 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



55 



the most difficult way in order that you may 
be impressed with the magnitude of the under- 
taking. It is the same old story. " Buy ! 
buy ! buy ! " all the way down ; and the nearer 
you reach the bottom, the more importunate 
do the rascals become. There is not much 
collusion between the sheik, dragoman, and 
guides, but a little crops out just here. You 
are now the length of two sides of the pyra- 
mid from the starting-point. Your dragoman, 
who has not had an earthly thing to do since 
you started up, and who should now be on 
hand to see that you are not imposed upon, is 
peacefully sleeping in one of the carriages. 
After much jangling, here are about the mini- 
mum settling charges : 



3 Guides ...... .50 

1 Water-carrier 10 

Doctor . . . . . . .10 

Coins 50 

Antiquities 50 



Of course there will be grumbling if you 
double or thrible them. The visit to the in- 
terior (two men 50 cents, and candle-carrier 
five cents) is more interesting in this particular. 
The immense stones of the passage-ways are as 
perfect as when they left the hands of the build- 



56 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



ers over six thousand years ago, undefaced 
by the marks of those reptiles whose unknown 
names appear scrawled over so many of these 
grand old monuments. The trip is rather a 
difficult one for a lady, but it only requires 
half an hour. The charm about it is that the 
mob of enterprising merchants has no chance 
to surround and pester you. You are naturally 
ready after you get through with it all to sit 
down quietly to an excellent lunch brought with 
you from the hotel. And more and more as the 
days go by the memory of the howling escort 
will gradually fade from your mind, and you 
will remember only the fact that you have 
stood upon the summit of the most wonderful 
monument ever erected by the hands of man. 

After lunch you start over to see the Sphinx. 
No guides or attendants are necessary for this, 
but you have crowds of both. The ladies here 
had their first experience in camel riding. 
The camels are made to kneel down on the 
sand. The saddle resembles more a large- 
sized saw buck than any thing else I can liken 
it to. Sometimes it has a rug thrown over it, 
sometimes not. The camel makes it pleasant 
for the rider, especially if it be a lady of deli- 
cate nerves, by frequently emitting a protest- 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



57 



ing roar, which sounds much like the angry 
roar of the lion ; but camels are usually mild- 
tempered and inoffensive, and this noise seems 
to be a protest against taking on any load. 
When a camel gets up, he gets up one end at 
a time, and it is quite a feat to cling to the 
saddle without being shot about fifty feet into 
space over the camel's head. As you trudge 
along over the sand towards the Sphinx, you 
feel independent, almost belligerent. Your 
escort seem to recognize the change in situa- 
tion, for they plod along at a respectful 
distance, only occasionally offering a coin or 
idol in a deprecating manner ; prices now re- 
duced about 350 per cent. You say, " No, 
no," impatiently, and they fall back. This 
sombre escort annoys you. You try to appear 
oblivious to their presence ; turn around and 
look back as though waiting for some one. 
The entire group, like one mighty automaton, 
faces to the rear and gazes back as intently as 
ever did Sister Anna from the window of Old 
Bluebeard's palace. You fail to shake them 
off. Immediately you face about, and suddenly 
discovering that the friend you are so anx- 
iously in search of is ahead of you, you start 
forward on a dog-trot over the sand. By 



58 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

common consent, without a spoken word, the 
escort assume a double-quick with an ease 
which at once convinces you of the utter fu- 
tility of attempting escape in this way. At 
length you stand before the mighty image. 
The name of its sculptor is unknown ; the 
date and purpose of its execution lost in the 
shadowy centuries of an age ante-dating the 
Pyramids. Why and by whom was it made is 
a riddle, to solve which has been at once the 
desire and despair of scholars in all ages. As 
you contemplate its solitary grandeur, for de- 
spite the cruel mutilation of the face, it is 
grand beyond the power of words to describe, 
you are suddenly assailed with " Want, you 
see man up Sphinx, up face. Hip, hip, hur- 
ray, Yankee doodle, want shilling whole party, 
want you see ? " Interesting, is n't it? Too 
disgusted for words, you turn away only to be 
assailed again and again by the same enquiry. 

The body of the Sphinx, hewn out of the 
solid rock, is 140 feet long. It is thirty feet 
from the top of the forehead to the bottom of 
the chin ; the face is fourteen feet wide ; the 
paws fifty feet long and covered with stone 
blocks. Between the paws are the remains of 
an altar, and here were found three tablets, 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



59 



one of granite, upon which is a representation 
of Thothmes IV. offering incense to a sphinx. 
If the one on the tablet is a representation of 
the one above, then it originally had a beard. 
You descend from the sand-hill directly facing 
the figure, to a paved platform partly covered 
by sand, and from this by a flight of thirty 
steps to the altar between the paws. To the 
left, around through a gully where the sand 
has been partially cleared away, you come to 
the remains of a building where the statue of 
Cephren, the builder of the second Pyramid, 
was found. This building was constructed of 
stupendous blocks of alabaster and still larger 
blocks of red granite from Assouan. Some 
of these are from ten to eighteen feet long, 
and from six to seven feet high, one of the 
largest being hewn to turn a corner. The rock 
out of which the Sphinx is carved is a soft 
sand-stone containing many fossil shells. The 
nose, chin, and the lobe of the left ear are gone. 
The head was originally covered with some 
kind of head-dress, portions of which are still 
plainly discernible, being of a pattern of equi- 
distant stripes ; and some of the paint with 
which the entire head was doubtless coated is 
still to be seen. If there ever was a crest on 



60 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW- 

top of the head no trace of it now remains. 
After considerable negotiation I prevailed on 
one of the Arabs to procure a section of the 
tram-rails used in the neighboring excavations, 
by the aid of which I was able to reach the 
top of the head from the back of the figure, 
the latter portion being easily gained from the 
adjacent sand-hills. I found the head flat on 
top, and about in the centre a hole had been 
cut four feet wide and six or seven feet deep, 
doubtless for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether the statue was hollow. The rock is 
extremely soft, and yet thousands of years of 
storm and sun have wrought less devastation 
than the single generation during which it has 
had to withstand the desecrating touch of 
modern tourists, not one in ten of whom can 
tell the difference between the beautiful speci- 
men of shell rock they so ruthlessly chip from 
perhaps the very face of the image, and a 
modern Egyptian brick. If a few of these 
ruthless vandals could have perished on their 
way hither what prayers of thankfulness would 
to-day be ascending from every lover of an- 
tiquity and all searchers after truth in these 
waste places. " This benignant face that in 
sleepless vigilance has watched the movements 



ASCENT OF THE PYRAMIDS. 



61 



of nations, the ebb and flow of history, has been 
illuminated with the rays of the rising sun and 
roseate dawn of countless days. Repose in 
thy unique grandeur, venerable Sphinx, em- 
blem of immutability, looking on a fitful sea 
of change, symbol of permanence, while men 
and dynasties perish around thee. Myriads of 
pilgrims more have visited thy shrine than 
Mecca's Kaaba ever knew or Ganges' waves 
ever bathed. Upon ancient dynasties of Ethi- 
opian and Egyptian kings, upon Greek and 
Roman, upon Arab and Ottoman conquerors, 
upon Napoleon dreaming of an Eastern em- 
pire, upon battle and pestilence, upon the 
ceaseless misery of the Egyptian race, upon 
keen-eyed travellers, Herodotus of yesterday 
and Mariette Bey of to-day, — upon all and 
more this unworldly Sphinx has watched, and 
watched like a Providence with the same ear- 
nest eyes, with the same tranquil mem." 

Although I would not gratify the importu- 
nate acrobat enough to pay him even twenty- 
five cents to see him climb up the face of the 
Sphinx, I was a good deal puzzled how a feat 
which seemed so impossible could be accom- 
plished. My curiosity was gratified and my 
shilling saved, for, after having got me on the 



62 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

top, he concluded that it would not be safe to 
take me down without the use of a rope, and 
so he scampered off after one, going down the 
right or eastern side of the head and coming 
back the same way. I examined the place as 
well as I could and it scarcely seemed possible 
for a fly, much less a human being, to climb 
up that perpendicular rock, with only here and 
there a place for the toe to rest. 



CHAPTER VI. 



EGYPT AS IT IS. 

The present condition of the Egyptian people 
is bad enough, but it is nothing compared with 
the burdens they formerly bore and the cruel 
exactions they suffered from the tax-gatherers 
and all the officials with whom they came in 
contact from the highest to the lowest. The 
population is about seven millions, not much 
smaller than in the days of their greatest pros- 
perity, if we may believe Diodorus, although 
Herodotus says there were about twenty thou- 
sand cities at the time of Amasis. Herodotus 
was an enterprising tourist, but seems to have 
been considerable of a liar. Everybody knows 
that the fertility of the valley of the Nile is 
due entirely to the deposits from the river 
when it overflows, but everybody does not 
know that irrigation is not only common, but 
absolutely necessary, as nothing in the nature 
of a crop can grow without it. While a high 

63 



64 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Nile is necessary for a good crop, it is not be- 
cause the water overflows the lands in sufficient 
quantities to moisten them up for the season, 
but because the deposits of mud primarily 
fertilize the soil, and what is more important, 
the water fills the canals, ponds, and reservoirs, 
and renders irrigation more easy. Anywhere 
within the fertile belt water may be obtained 
at no great depth by digging, and from these 
wells it is raised for the purpose of irrigation 
by a sakeeyah, which is merely an endless 
string of earthen pots fastened on a cord run- 
ning over a large vertical wheel having wooden 
cogs on the circumference. These cogs are 
worked by the cogs of a large horizontal wheel, 
and to the axis of this wheel is fastened the 
sweep where the motive power is applied, 
sometimes a friendless mule, more generally a 
buffalo-ox. For the purpose of raising water 
from the Nile or the larger canals two posts 
about five feet high are set up three feet apart. 
A bar is put across the top and to this is 
fastened a pole probably twelve or fifteen feet 
long, on one end of which is a weight of mud 
or stone, generally the former, and on the 
other a palm stick, to which is attached a 
bucket made of matting, with which the water 



EGYPT AS IT 1$. 



65 



can be raised from eight to ten feet. This 
machine, called a shadoof, is operated by one 
man. Where the banks are high the shadoofs 
are placed one above the other, but it is not 
usual to see more than three set in this way. 
Sometimes they are operated in pairs. There 
are some steam-pumps used, but the fuel is too 
expensive to make the use of them profitable. 
I do not think there is a modern windmill in 
all the valley of the Nile ; why, I cannot 
understand, as the wind seems to blow with 
sufficient velocity every day to render the use 
of them both profitable and economical. In 
other respects irrigation is the same here as 
elsewhere. Formerly the deposit of the Nile 
mud was a sufficient fertilizer, but since the 
people have been raising cotton and sugar- 
cane the land has required artificial renewing. 
The arable area is about five million acres and 
is gradually increasing, probably from fifty 
thousand to seventy thousand acres a year. 
Fertile as is the soil, various as are its produc- 
tions, and exempt from the vicissitudes which 
so affect agriculture in other lands, it seems 
strange that the present condition of the 
people should be so pitiable. The debt of 
the country rose from about twenty million 

5 



66 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW- 



dollars to about five hundred millions under 
Ismail Pacha ; of which increase it is safe to 
say not one half ever found its way into the 
coffers of the Khedive, so ruinous were the 
discounts, commissions, and stealings of his 
friends the English. The statement that 
Egypt has nothing to show for her millions 
save a few cheap palaces is hardly fair. She 
certainly has the following " assets," perhaps 
at high valuations, but "assets" nevertheless: 

Suez Canal (her interest) . . . $16,500,000 

Railways ...... 50,000,000 

Harbors, Alexandria and Suez . . 20,000,000 

Canals ....... 10,000,000 

Light-houses ...... 1,000,000 

Gas and Water Works, Paving, Sewers, 

etc., Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez . 15,000,000 

Steamers 8,000,000 

Then Ismail spent some millions in bridges 
and repairs on roads, to say nothing of the 
ten millions squandered on the unfortunate 
expedition to Abyssinia and Central Africa, 
while no one can ever find out how much has 
been paid to England for " incidentals." But 
I am wandering. England has taken virtual 
possession of the country, nominally in the 
interest of her bondholders, really with a view 



EGYPT AS IT IS. 



67 



to control the Suez Canal, a fond dream which 
she will never realize. The expenses of her 
"army of occupation" must first be paid out 
of the revenue ; then what she considers a 
fair amount for the expenses of the govern- 
ment ; then the interest on the debt. To 
raise the enormous amount requisite for these 
purposes, the chief reliance is placed on the 
land tax, which reaches annually the appalling 
sum of 1 20 piastres, or $6, an acre ! In case a 
man cannot pay his land tax, they take first 
his cattle or stock, if he has any, then his 
land, which latter, well located, is worth from 
$30 to $50 an acre. I believe, however, that, 
since the people have become so poor, a law 
has been passed only requiring a man to pay 
tax on what land he can irrigate in case of a 
low Nile. The average prices of live stock 
are about as follows: Sheep, $1 to $1.25; 
cows, $20 to $30; donkeys, except fine riding 
animals, $20 to $35; camels, $25 to $50; — 
these prices south of the immediate vicinity 
of Cairo. Wheat is worth this year eighty 
cents a bushel, and the land produces from 
twenty to twenty-five bushels to the acre. The 
rural population, the Fellaheen, compose 
about 75 per cent, of all the people, and are 



68 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

industrious, quiet, and submissive, to an as- 
tonishing degree. The children are naturally 
bright and intelligent, but early marriage and 
most excessive labor, the latter rendered 
necessary by the cruel taxation, makes them 
prematurely old. Half clad and dirty, they 
live in miserable mud huts, which have neither 
windows nor doors ; subsisting on bread made 
from corn or millet, a few vegetables, eggs, 
and now and then a morsel of meat. Their 
dress consists of a pair of drawers, and a large 
gown made of blue cotton or brown woollen, 
which completely envelops the person ; a 
turban completes the costume, shoes or slip- 
pers being rarely worn. The wages of the 
ordinary farm hand are ten cents a day. The 
principal tax is the land tax ; but there is a 
tax on salt which is a government monopoly. 
An English writer on the subject of excessive 
taxation states the case without reserve when 
he says: "There appears little doubt that 
the amount paid as interest on the debt is 
more than the country can safely stand, but 
political reasons prevent it from being re- 
duced." The children fairly swarm in all the 
towns, and are ragged, dirty, beggars all, liv- 
ing in the most abject poverty, yet were 



EGYPT AS IT IS. 



69 



it not for some disease of the eyes, which 
afflicts so many of them, they would be a 
rather merry-looking crowd, as well as a 
merry-feeling one, as they most certainly are, 
for I saw but one crying child in all the land. 
Lest these haphazard sketches should seem to 
aspire to the dignity of an historical treatise, 
I will say no more in this line, except to fire a 
parting shot at this "sunny clime." Intensely 
disagreeable after sunset by reason of the cold, 
with clouds of dust and sand filling- the air 
when the wind blows by day ; no vegetables 
worthy the name, a tropical clime without 
tropical fruits or flowers, no milk, sour bread, 
bad butter, and Turkish coffee ; steamer, rail- 
road, and hotel fares higher in proportion than 
anywhere else in the world ; the sight of in- 
describably magnificent ruins must be full 
compensation for all these disappointments 
and discomforts. 



CHAPTER VII. 



UP THE NILE. 

The trip up the Nile is now practicable only 
as far as the First Cataract, the unpleasant 
proximity of the Mahdi to Wady Haifa and 
the country between that town and Assouan 
rendering travelling sufficiently precarious to 
prevent the steamer lines from guaranteeing 
a safe passage to the Second Cataract. It 
seems a great pity to visit this country and 
miss the Rock Temples of Nubia, but there is 
at present no help for it. The passenger 
traffic of the river is practically in the hands 
of Thomas Cook & Son, as they own and 
operate all the first-class steamers, and for 
the sum of $250 they undertake to carry you 
to the First Cataract and back, a distance 
of 1,140 miles, pay all the expenses of sight- 
seeing at the principal points of interest, fur- 
nish donkeys, dragomen, side-saddles for the 
ladies, and in fact foot all the bills for a 

70 



UP THE NILE. 



71 



period of twenty days. They show you the 
pyramid of Sakkarah, the Apis Mausoleum, 
tomb of Tih, pyramid of Oonus, statue of Ra- 
meses the Great, the ruins of Memphis, tombs 
of Beni-Hassan, the temples of Denderah, 
ruins of Thebes and all the temples there, the 
tombs of the kings, temples of Karnak and 
Luxor, temples of Abydus, Esneh, Edfoo, and 
Kom-Ombo, the island of Elephantine, the 
temples of Philse, the quarries of Assouan, 
and the towns of interest along the river. 
The price will strike one as being a trifle 
steep when the cheapness of every thing in 
this country is taken into consideration, but, 
after all, a person travelling for pleasure ought 
willingly to pay for being saved the discom- 
forts of bargaining over and over again for 
guides, donkeys, and various other necessities 
of a trip in this distant land. 

Behold us assembled on the steamer Mo- 
hammed Ali y Tuesday, January 2 2d, ready to 
start promptly according to programme, at ten 
o'clock. Here all sneering at the " personally 
conducted " feature ceases. To go otherwise, 
although possible, is looked upon as a cheap 
substitute for the genuine article, travel by dak- 
abeeyah being of course excepted. But this 



72 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

latter method would not suit the average 
American ; it may be a good way to kill time 
for some people, but to be at the mercy of the 
winds and Arabs for three months on this river 
for the sole purpose of enjoying the dolce far 
niente of the trip, seems to me a wicked waste 
of a portion of the allotted threescore and ten. 
It was as disagreeable a day as one will find in 
New York in March : cold, windy, rainy ; in 
fact, most depressing, and to visit the cemetery 
of a great nation one certainly needs all the 
sunshine of Egypt's "cloudless skies." But 
first as to the steamer. She is 160 feet long, 
carries 51 passengers, all first-class. Her en- 
gines are of French construction, of 275 indi- 
cated horse-power, her maximum speed is 
1 1 miles an hour, and she draws 3^ feet of 
water. She is under the absolute control, in 
every particular, of a manager, Mr. F. Biggi, 
an intelligent, clever, competent official. The 
captain was a pensioner of the Egyptian 
army ; his first officer, whose only duties 
seemed to be manipulating the signal to the 
engine room, also an Egyptian. The next 
official of importance was an ancient Arab, 
who stood forward on the bow of the steamer 
armed with a long pole graduated up to five 



UP THE NILE. 



73 



feet. His duty of heaving the lead was a most 
important one, as in places the channel is con- 
stantly shifting, and it is sometimes a serious 
thing to run on the Nile mud. The steering 
apparatus works by steam, and while constant 
practice may teach an Arab some things, it 
will never teach him how to steer a boat. The 
course of the Mohammed Alt for a single 
day, laid down on a nautical chart, would drive 
the entire English Coast Survey Board into 
the lunatic asylum. 

Hornstein, our chief dragoman, guide, and 
general-utility man, Friday, who is supposed to 
know every thing written and unwritten about 
Egypt, who is called on to do every thing, from 
picking out a good donkey, fixing a broken sad- 
dle, or detecting a bogus antiquity, to decipher- 
ing the most unimportant hieroglyphics, and 
giving a specious respectful answer to the 
questions of some ass who has been allowed 
by a mysterious Providence to inflict himself 
on a lot of people actually desirous of learning 
something ; — this chap was a German, born in 
Jerusalem — think of the incongruity of it ! 
Next we shall run across a Greek born in 
Senegambia. He was a most capable, good- 
natured fellow, speaking five or six different 



74 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

languages, and although he sometimes fell 
down, so to speak, amid the ruins of Egyptian, 
Greek, and Roman orthoepy, he knew so much 
more in reality than any of the rest of us that 
we quietly overlooked this slight defect. 
Parrot-like he possibly had learned it all by 
rote, but we were none of us smart enough to 
trip him up. His able assistant was a young 
Arab, Mustapha, who was one of the inter- 
preters with the so-called relief expedition in 
the direction of Khartoum under Wolseley 
three or four years ago. The steward was a 
German ; the cooks, Italians ; the waiters and 
crew, natives. There was an English doctor 
on board, but no stewardess. Meals were as 
follows : Breakfast generally at 8:30, consist- 
ing of tea and coffee, sour bread, butter, eggs 
in some shape, cold meats, and preserves. 
Lunch at one, which was a substantial meal 
of generally four or five courses. Tea and 
crackers at four o'clock, and dinner at seven. 
Coffee on deck for lunch and dinner, the cups 
being generally arranged by Mustapha in cer- 
tain letters, the significance of which was left 
to the ingenuity of the passengers. As Mus- 
tapha was an original fellow, there was always 
a spice in his selections, which were generally 



UP THE NILE. 



75 



of the places we were about to visit. There 
was a good piano on board, a fair selection of 
sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental* 
music, a remarkably good library of books on 
Egypt and the Egyptians. There was sup- 
posed to be an ample supply of stationery on 
board, but certified copies of twenty-seven 
ponderous diaries, of doubtful interest to any- 
body except the writers, exhausted the supply 
before we had gone two hundred miles. 

While eating lunch the dragoman came into 
the saloon, clapped his hands for silence, and 
then proceeded to outline the first trip — the 
one to Sakkarah. In this same manner we 
learned from day to day what the programme 
was. We reached Bedrachin, fifteen miles 
from Cairo, at 12 o'clock, and here had our 
first experience in " taking donkeys." On 
the bank was a yelling, quarrelling crowd of 
"donkey-boys" (?). We carried side-saddles 
for the ladies, and of course if a donkey-boy 
could secure a saddle from the dragoman he 
was certain of having his donkey used. It is 
astonishing either how cowardly or slow to 
anger these people are. When too importunate 
for any cause, the dragoman leaps among them 
with a stick and lays about him most vigor- 



76 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



ously. Away they scamper in every direction, 
as if fleeing for their lives, only to return again 
when the danger is past. And this may hap- 
pen twenty times before the saddles are all 
given out and the party ready to start. Horn- 
stein generally went ahead, and Mustapha 
brought up the rear to see that no stragglers 
were lost. Our instructions were to keep to- 
gether, but these were invariably disregarded. 
Our Scotch friends insisted on reaching the 
shore first of all, taking their pick of the 
donkeys, and galloping off without waiting for 
any one else. The sky was overcast. The 
wind blew briskly from the southwest, and 
occasionally during the afternoon it rained 
fiercely. A short distance from the river we 
passed the miserable village of Bedrachin, our 
first near view of an Egyptian town. We 
were greeted at every turn with cries for 
backsheesh, It will be unnecessary to men- 
tion this hereafter, in connection with our 
stoppages at other points. These children 
yell for backsheesh always persistently, always 
good-naturedly, never so much surprised as 
when they receive something. They dodge 
out from behind doorways and heaps of 
ruins, with ever the same cry. The little 



UP THE NILE. 



77 



ones, not more than two years old and scarcely 
able to walk, piped out "backsheesh" ; young 
rascals, from five to ten years old, and naked 
as when they came into the world, pranced 
along by the side of the donkeys, crying "back- 
sheesh " ; girls, of all ages up to a dozen years, 
and most of them carrying babies in their 
arms, held out the disengaged hand for back- 
sheesh. Now and then we passed a blind 
man led by a small boy and saying : " Blind 
maskeen [a poor man] blind ! " Sometimes it 
would be one blind boy leading another — 
although they never fell into the ditch, a 
suspicious circumstance, — and sometimes a 
child would hold up a flower, a bunch of wild 
mustard, a useless piece of old pottery, or 
some crude figure picked from the ruins, ask- 
ing you to buy. You generally declined, and 
then came the call for backsheesh. If tem- 
porarily delivered from the importunities of 
the beggars in a few of the temples, their 
demands are only the more vociferous when 
you again fall into their clutches. We pity 
them from the bottom of our hearts, but 
perhaps our sympathies are wasted, for they 
are either very happy or very stoical. 

The donkey-boys merit a brief notice. While 



78 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

they are paid by the donkey-owners, in case 
they do not own the donkeys themselves, they 
invariably expect some gratuity, and no matter 
how much you give, they always demand more, 
continuing to vociferate until the dragoman 
makes his appearance, when they ingloriously 
take to their heels. From ten to twenty-five 
cents — the latter for the long trip from Assouan 
to Philae and back — is the proper amount of 
fee. They are wonderfully honest, and a coat, 
shawl, umbrella, or any thing else, left in their 
charge while visiting the temples or tombs, is 
as safe as if locked in one's trunk on the 
steamer. Indeed, locking things up anywhere 
was entirely superfluous. We rode along a 
fine embankment, with cultivated fields on 
either side ; crossed the railroad ; and amid 
the graceful palm-trees here and there, beheld 
heaps of old bricks and broken pottery, the 
mournful remains of that once mighty city, 
Memphis, founded B.C. 5004 ! The one idea 
above all others that presents itself to the 
traveller as he journeys over this lonely plain 
is, how was it possible for a city to be so 
utterly destroyed as was this city ? 

Where are the ruins of the mighty temples, 
palaces, and public buildings of granite and 



UP THE NILE. 



79 



marble which formerly adorned this wonder 
and pride of the ancient world ? A few frag- 
ments are in reality the only remains that have 
been found, and although it is possible that 
the more substantial relics of the city may be 
concealed beneath these heaps of rubbish, all 
excavations and researches thus far have re- 
sulted in absolutely no discoveries whatever. 
The channel of the river originally lay at the 
foot of the Libyan hills, but Menes cut a new 
channel farther to the east, thus making a 
magnificent site for his still more magnificent 
city. He protected this new location with 
mighty dykes, which Herodotus says were 
carefully maintained up to the time of the 
Persians, B.C. 527. The gigantic nature of 
this work may be understood when we consider 
that the point at which the change in the 
channel of the river was begun, was some- 
where about twelve miles above the site of 
the city. This same king excavated a great 
lake on the north and west of the city, which 
was supplied by water from the Nile, brought 
through a canal which doubtless followed the 
old channel of the river. It is very difficult 
to determine the size of the city, and it is ex- 
tremely doubtful if it ever was surrounded 



80 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



with a wall. According to Diodorus, it was 
seventeen miles in circumference, and the 
greater diameter was probably from north to 
south, about six miles. If, as this writer 
states, the great Acherusian Lake surrounded 
by meadows and canals, the immense reservoir 
constructed for the temple of Ptah, the sacred 
groves of the temples, and the numerous 
gardens and villas of the nobles were included 
in this area, it is not possible that the city 
ever contained a million people, as has been 
stated, or half that number. From the time 
of Menes to the time of the visit of Herodotus, 
Memphis was certainly the most important 
city of Egypt, although at certain times during 
that period it was eclipsed in splendor by its 
more youthful rival, Thebes. Four hundred 
years later Diodorus speaks of the greatness 
of Memphis, second, however, at this time in 
importance to Alexandria. And Strabo, writ- 
ing about the time of the Christian era, de- 
scribes it as a great and populous city, although 
the palaces were ruined and deserted. The 
temples, however, appear to have been main- 
tained with much of their former state. Al- 
though the Persians at last destroyed some of 
these, it is not probable that many were much 



UP THE NILE. 



81 



mutilated before the time of Theodosius, 
a.d. 379, who, in his zeal against idolatry, 
was guilty of acts of vandalism directed against 
shrines and temples which were far more be- 
fitting a modern Bashi-Bazotik than the Chris- 
tian ruler of a mighty empire. The city 
maintained something of its former importance 
at the time of the Arab occupation, a.d. 640, 
but this invasion may be considered the death- 
knell of the capital ; as its remaining in- 
habitants removed to the new metropolis of 
Fostat, and the stones of its ruined temples 
were used for building the new city of Cairo. 

As recently as the twelfth century an Arab 
writer describes the ruins as occupying " a 
space half a day's journey every way," and 
that " they still offer to the eyes of the spec- 
tator a collection of marvels which strike the 
eye with wonder, and which the most eloquent 
man might in vain attempt to describe." The 
temples of Memphis must have been of ex- 
treme beauty and stateliness, for it was the 
custom of succeeding monarchs oftentimes to 
add to and enrich an already existing temple, 
rather than build a new one. The great temple 
of Ptah (the Creator), founded by Menes, was 
enriched by various kings down to the time of 

6 



82 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

Amasis, b.c. 572, and endowed with the costli- 
est gifts and treasures, among which may be 
mentioned two statues of Rameses III., b.c. 
1288, upwards of twenty-five cubits in height. 
A large court, surrounded by a splendid peri- 
style of Osiride figures, where Apis was kept 
when exhibited to the public, was here, and 
most remarkable of all a recumbent colossus 
seventy-five feet long, made by command of 
King Amasis, the only instance of a statue in 
that position. 

It is impossible for the most imaginative 
mind to conjure up visions of the past where 
nothing in the present renders the slightest 
assistance, and the knowledge that probably 
here Moses and Aaron stood before Sethi 
Meneptah II. and said, " Let my people go 
that they may serve me " conveyed no such 
impression to my mind as would have been the 
case had the ruins of the palaces been scattered 
around me. We visited the two colossal 
statues of Rameses II. B.C. 1400, one very 
badly mutilated, the other nearly perfect. 
These probably stood before the temple of 
Ptah, were monoliths made of a very hard 
white silicious limestone, which takes a high 
polish, and when entire were somewhere from 



UP THE NILE. 



83 



forty-eight to fifty feet high. The best statue 
has been raised from the place where it lay 
for centuries, and blocked, face upwards ; and 
although the feet and a portion of the head- 
dress are gone, the statue, as you look down 
upon it from the platform built over it, is 
singularly impressive. The exquisitely sculp- 
tured features fortunately are not mutilated, 
and the expression of the face is most grave 
and dignified. 

Such is Memphis. The gloomy threaten- 
ings of Jeremiah have indeed been literally 
fulfilled : " Oh, daughter of Egypt, prepare 
thyself for captivity ; for Memphis shall 
be laid waste ; she shall be abandoned and 
shall become uninhabitable." " And now 
nothing remains of the once mighty city which 
through so many centuries exercised so pro- 
found an influence over the destinies of man- 
kind, but interminable mounds where only the 
date-palm can grow, beside here and there the 
debris of a wall, the shaft of a broken column." 

Of all the disappointments of foreign travel, 
the most bitter is the utter desolation per- 
vading the locality where once were mag- 
nificent cities, capitals of mighty empires. 
Memphis and Thebes, Baalbec and Jericho ! 



84 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

They are all the same. You stand among 
the palm trees, which wave their graceful 
branches over this spot where once stood the 
splendid palaces of the Pharaohs, and around 
you are vast heaps of broken pottery and 
crumbling bricks, many of them in truth 
" bricks without straw," made perchance by 
the children of Israel in the days of their cruel 
oppression. You accept in despair the legends 
of the locality, but no imagination is so vivid 
as to repeople these places with the stately 
temples and palaces, with the teeming thou- 
sands of fifty centuries agone ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH, 

We returned a short distance towards the 
river after visiting the statue of Rameses II., 
and then bearing off to the northward passed 
the site of the lake already mentioned, follow- 
ing the high embankment toward the Pyra- 
mids. On either side of us were many cattle, 
sheep, and goats grazing. We were struck 
with the utter absence of habitations of any 
kind amid these fertile fields, and it took us 
some days to realize the fact that nowhere on 
the lowlands can huts be constructed, owing 
to the annual inundation. Soon we reached 
the border of the plain, the eastern boundary 
of the great Necropolis. Mariette Bey thus 
describes it: "This Necropolis is the most 
important, the most ancient, and yet at the 
same time the most modern of all the ceme- 
teries of Memphis. It extends along the verge 
of the sands of the desert for about four miles 

85 



86 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

and a half in length, with a breadth varying 
from one third of a mile to nearly one mile. 
It offers a spectacle of utter desolation. Pits 
without number lie yawning at the feet of the 
passer-by. Dismantled brick walls, heaps of 
sand mingled with stones and particles of 
granite encumber the traveller's path almost 
at every step. Here and there fragments of 
mummy-cloth, borne along by the winds, or 
human bones drying and bleaching in the sun, 
warn us that we are in the regions of the 
dead ! " 

The central pyramid, which is the nucleus 
of this vast cemetery, is the famous pyramid 
of Sakkarah, built in six degrees, or steps, and 
standing as it does on commanding ground, it 
towers to a great height apparently, although 
its altitude is but two hundred and seventy- 
five feet. King Ouenephes I., about 4900 B.C., 
the last king of the First Dynasty, is known to 
have built a pyramid at a place called Ko- 
Komeh. If the tradition which assigns the 
name Ko-Komeh to this very place is true, 
then the step pyramid is the oldest monument 
in the world reared by mortal hands. We 
skirted around the base of the pyramid with- 
out stopping, although the ascent is easy and 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 87 

the interior quite interesting, and halted be- 
fore the Serapeum, rendered famous by Strabo 
and the Greek papyri, and long sought for 
but undiscovered until found by Mariette Bey, 
in 1 85 1. The sacred bull, while living, occu- 
pied the temple called Apieum. The Sera- 
peum was the name given to his tomb. The 
passage of Strabo referred to, described a 
temple near Memphis, in a spot so sandy that 
the wind caused the sand to drift into great 
heaps, and he further mentioned the fact that 
in the sand they could see many sphinxes 
partially buried. Mariette, in commencing his 
labors in Egypt, had noticed in some gardens 
in Alexandria and Cairo several sphinxes, and 
being by chance one day at Sakkarah he saw 
the head of a similar sphinx protruding from 
the sand. Instantly recollecting the passage 
of Strabo, he as instantly concluded that the 
approach to the long-lost Serapeum was at 
length found. After almost incredible labor 
in the shifting sand, the approach was cleared 
to a depth varying from ten to seventy feet, 
and the entrance to the mausoleum exposed 
to view. The approach has again been covered 
by its friendly protector, the sand, but the en- 
trance to the tomb of Apis is still kept clear 



88 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



for sight-seers. We tramped down to it, showed 
our tickets to the custodian, and entered. 
Temperature outside sixty degrees, tempera- 
ture inside seventy-nine degrees, and no varia- 
tion the year round. The tomb consists of 
three parts, having no communication with 
each other. The first part, belonging to the 
eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynas- 
ties, is of no particular interest, consisting 
merely of separate tombs hewn haphazard in the 
rock. The second part contains the tombs of 
Apis during the twenty-second, twenty-third, 
twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth dynasties. The 
first part is again filled with sand ; the roof 
of the second part has fallen in, but neither of 
these is of any particular interest. We visited 
the third part, the place of interment from 650 
to 50 B.C. The interior consists of a series of 
galleries descending by an easy slope — total 
length about 1,250 feet, — and on either side, 
but not opposite to each other, are deep re- 
cesses in the rock, each containing an enormous 
granite sarcophagus weighing about sixty-five 
ions ; in size, thirteen feet long, eleven feet 
high, and seven feet eight inches broad — each 
one fitted with a stupendous lid ! They are 
twenty-four in number, but only three bear 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 89 



any inscriptions. The great importance of the 
discovery consisted in the vast number of stelae 
orex-voto offerings (about five hundred in num- 
ber). These are stone tablets covered with in- 
scriptions, and were deposited by the pious of 
Memphis on certain religious festivals, as offer- 
ings to the god. The tomb had been lighted 
with candles before our arrival, and the sight 
of our noble forty-one in grotesque costumes 
of all kinds, straggling down these galleries 
amid the relics of the past, formed a picture 
never to be forgotten. 

We next visited the tomb of Tih, a priest 
who lived under the fifth dynasty, some five 
thousand years ago. Under the ancient em- 
pire the tomb consisted of three parts : first, 
one or more rooms, always accessible from the 
street of the Necropolis ; second, a vertical 
pit opening out of one of the chambers ; third, 
a sepulchral chamber hollowed out of the rock, 
where the mummy was deposited. The tomb 
of Tih, although more defaced during the past 
dozen years by the senseless vandals who have 
visited it than it suffered in all the centuries pre- 
ceding its recent discovery, is still very beauti- 
ful. The hieroglyphics, strange as it may seem, 
are as far removed from funereal subjects as is 



90 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

possible to imagine. Tih is represented sur- 
rounded by his family, engaged in the ordinary 
scenes of life. Here he is among his servants, 
superintending the gathering of fruit ; there 
harvesting his crops ; in another place, hunt- 
ing ; again, sailing and fishing — in fact, en- 
gaging in all the pursuits of a wealthy landed 
proprietor, such as the priests were known to 
have been. Near by a tomb was found, in the 
deep recesses of which was a mummy with a 
gold mask over its face and jewels of every 
kind arranged on its breast. This proved to 
be the mummy of Kha-emuas, the favorite son 
of Rameses II. 

We next visited the pyramid of Oonas, a king 
of the fifth dynasty, B.C. 3750, very interesting 
on account of its beautiful hieroglyphics. After 
this we returned to the steamer with a keen ap- 
petite for our dinner. As the boat got ready 
to start, the children flocked down to the bank 
and into the shallow water, keeping up a per- 
fect pandemonium of shouts for backsheesh. We 
amused ourselves by throwing some half- and 
quarter-piastres, and seeing the beggars tumble 
over each other in the water in their anxiety to 
secure a good portion of the plunder, which, as 
soon as obtained, was placed in their mouths. 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 91 

Thursday, 24th, we reached Beni-Hassan, 
where the inhabitants have the name of being 
the worst lot on the river, and the way the 
dragoman and soldiers laid around among the 
crowd of donkey-boys, loafers, and general 
scalawags with their whips, was laughable in 
the extreme. Perhaps it was because the 
donkeys looked so small and half-starved ; the 
donkey-boys so ragged and dirty ; the day so 
hot and the road so dusty — at any rate, I 
failed to see much of interest at the tombs. 
We visited first the northern grottos and 
examined only the tombs of Ameni, a military 
commander under Osirtasen I., a king of the 
twelfth dynasty, 3000 B.C., and that of Knum- 
Hotep, the grandson of Ameni. These tombs 
are constructed on the same principle as those 
at Sakkarah, out of calcareous shell rock, made 
in imitation of buildings, ornamented with 
beautiful columns which seem to be the proto- 
type of the Doric shaft. They were covered 
with hieroglyphics recounting the exploits of 
these gentlemen and containing, as well, many 
pictures, beautifully colored, of scenes in their 
daily lives. Here, on the north wall, in a 
picture representing the feeding of the orex, 
the figures are drawn in perspective, one of 



92 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



the very few instances of the kind in Egypt. 
The only one of the southern grottos that we 
visited was Speos-Artemidos, " Cave of Diana," 
begun by Thothmes III., 1600 B.C. Other 
sculptures were added by Sethi I., but never 
completed. I presume, if I had been in better 
humor, I would have seen much to admire. 
But when, in addition to all the other draw- 
backs of this day, I heard a lady remark, 
speaking of the sculptures, " a little disfigured, 
but still in the ring," I was ready to go back 
to the steamer. Each locality where we 
stopped, as a rule, offered some specialty 
which we were importuned to buy. Here it 
was mummy cats, and the supply seemed to 
be simply inexhaustible. The pathway was 
strewn with them for miles, while the small 
urchins who sold them did not pretend to ask 
more than two piastres each for the choicest 
specimens. They were really quite curious, 
but crude, and did not improve on closer 
inspection, while they smelled to heaven. 

The mummy cats suggest something here 
that I may as well say and have off my mind. 
A standard historical authority, speaking of 
the Egyptians, says : "They believed in one 
invisible, omnipotent, self-created God, the 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 93 



immortality of the soul, judgment after death, 
the final annihilation of the wicked, and the 
ultimate absorption of the good into the 
eternal deity. God created his own members, 
which are the gods ; hence a host of lesser 
deities," etc., etc. ; and Jamblicus, a writer 
who lived for a brief period about the end 
of the third century (he could not have lived 
very long with that name), represents the 
Egyptians as " believing in one God, unique, 
universal, uncreate, the author of his own 
being, having no beginning, existing from 
eternity." This sort of religion was reserved 
for the king and the initiated, it seems, but for 
the common people " a palpable and tangible 
god" was necessary. Such has been the ac- 
cepted theory of the scientific world, resting 
solely on the authority of the aforesaid gentle- 
man of the euphonious name. Now, it seems 
to me that, in the light of all recent discoveries, 
these assertions will not bear the crucial test 
of the Scriptures : " By their fruits shall ye 
know them." It is impossible for an enlightened 
intellect to credit the statement that a nation 
who worshipped a man with the head of a 
jackal, or a woman with the head of a cow, as 
the embodiment of some great principle — who 



94 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

considered bulls, cats, and crocodiles too sacred 
to kill ; provided for them sumptuously while 
living, and raised costly mausoleums over their 
remains when dead, — it is difficult, I say, to 
induce a person of average intellect to accept 
the statement that these people believed in 
one omnipotent God, " the author of his own 
being, having no beginning, existing from 
eternity." Search the temples and monu- 
ments from one end of Egypt to the other, 
and where do you find any mention of one 
omnipotent God ? Everywhere there is men- 
tion of all sorts of deities, " immortal and 
uncreated," but nowhere is there any mention 
of the great Jehovah. So high an authority 
as Mariette, who at first was disposed to 
accept the theory of Jamblicus, in his latest 
work says : " Unfortunately the more one 
studies the Egyptian religion the greater be- 
comes the doubt as to the character which 
must definitively be ascribed to it." I accept 
the worship of Apis, the living image of 
Osiris revisiting the earth, under protest, 
charitably supposing the ancient bull to have 
been in no wise related to the modern Egyp- 
tian animal — for a good bull knows more than 
the average Egyptian, — but when I am told 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 95 



that these people anciently were so imaginative 
and so religious that they felt called on to 
worship and then embalm such utterly worth- 
less creatures as wolves and jackals, I rebel. 

"The priests believed in one invisible, over- 
ruling, self-created God, the immortality of 
the soul, and judgment after death, the final 
annihilation of the wicked, and the ultimate 
absorption of the good into the eternal deity." 

It is possible that this was the belief of the 
priests, but there is little doubt that the people 
were idolaters. One of the fundamental doc- 
trines of the Egyptian faith, that after the 
death of a man his soul could not enter into 
everlasting repose unless the body was pre- 
served, occasioned the singular system of 
embalming the corpses of the departed to 
preserve them from decay. The belief was 
prevalent among the people that the priests 
had the power of giving up the bodies of the 
sinful to corruption, hence the doctrine of 
transmigration. While the people may at one 
time have worshipped the spiritual deities of 
Osiris, Serapis, and Isis, their religion, centuries 
before the fall of their empire, degenerated 
into the most monstrous animal worship. How 
was this for the worshippers of " one omnipo- 



96 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



tent God"? During the reign of one of the 
Ptolemies, a priest, seemingly blessed with the 
first spark of originality which had made its 
appearance in art for something like three 
thousand years, changed the statues of a job 
lot of gods so that, instead of their being 
seated or kneeling and fastened at the back to 
a pillar, as up to this time they had been, they 
appeared to be walking, one foot in advance 
of the other. So dangerous an innovation 
carried dismay and religious horror among the 
people. What was to prevent their beloved 
gods, if they remained in this position, from 
walking off and leaving the country? We 
are told that, in order to prevent such an un- 
heard-of calamity, the people assembled from 
all quarters and with cords and ropes tied the 
deities to their pedestals, lest they might pos- 
sibly lose them ! 

Barnes' " History," in an admirable article 
on the manners and customs of the Egyptians, 
claims for the priests a belief in one overruling 
God, but on the next page treats us to the 
following: "The hawk, ape, ibis, cat, and asp 
were everywhere worshipped, but crocodiles, 
dogs, jackals, frogs, beetles, and shrew mice 
were venerated in different sections. Those 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 



97 



sacred in one nome, were often in others hated 
and hunted or used for food. Thus at Thebes 
the crocodile and sheep were worshipped, 
while the goat was eaten ; at Mendes the sheep 
was eaten and the goat worshipped ; and at 
Apollinopolis the crocodile was so abhorred 
that the people set apart an especial day to 
hunt and kill as many crocodiles as possible." 
Where the crocodile was worshipped " a chosen 
number of these animals were kept in temples, 
where they were given elegant apartments, 
and treated to every luxury at public expense. 
Let us imagine a crocodile fresh from a warm 
sumptuous bath, anointed with the most pre- 
cious ointment and perfumed with fragrant 
odors; its head and neck glittering with 
jewelled ear-rings and necklace, and its feet 
with bracelets, wallowing on a rich and costly 
carpet, to receive the worship of intelligent 
human beings ! Its death was mourned as a 
public calamity ; its body, wrapped in linen, 
was carried to the embalmers attended by a 
train of people weeping and beating their 
breasts in grief. Then having been expen- 
sively embalmed and bandaged in gaily-colored 
mummy-cloths, amid imposing ceremonies it 
was laid out in the rocked sepulchre." 

7 



98 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

Take the worship of Apis, for instance : 
An ordinary bull would n't do ; there were cer- 
tain requisite marks about the animal which 
the priests seemed to be able to discover, when 
it was necessary to have them discovered, and 
such marks denoted the sacred presence of 
Osiris. Talk about idolaters ; why, these 
people consulted the sacred bull as an oracle, 
" and his breath was said to confer upon chil- 
dren the gift of prophecy." It fell on the 
nation like a public calamity when an Apis 
died, and not until the busy priests had suc- 
ceeded in finding the proper trademarks on 
some other bull (which was immediately in- 
stalled with all the pomp and ceremony 
imaginable) did the nation breathe freely 
again. 

With these few statements, all of which can 
be easily substantiated by any student of his- 
tory as being the actual facts, I leave the sub- 
ject, with a candid admission that if there is 
any plausible or possible connection between 
such customs as these, which were unquestion- 
ably practised during the time of the nation's 
greatest enlightenment, and the theory so 
boldly advanced that the Egyptians believed 
in " one omnipotent God," my careful and 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 99 



somewhat laborious research has not enabled 
me to establish it. 

Starting away from Beni-Hassan, the same 
scramble for backsheesh was enacted ; only the 
crowd was larger and more turbulent, while, 
strange as it may seem, there were among the 
beggars some young girls of thirteen and four- 
teen actually beautiful, and the pretty, graceful 
way they had of smiling and showing their 
pearly teeth would have opened the heart and 
pocket-book of old Fagan himself. Friday 
afternoon about four o'clock we reached Assi- 
oot, the capital of Upper Egypt, a thriving 
city of thirty thousand people, the terminus of 
the railroad, beautifully located in the centre 
of a most fertile plain. As we came into port 
we fired three guns. Standing on the dock- 
boat we recognized the manly form of P., who 
had preceded us one week and had stopped on 
the way down for the sake of seeing us. The 
usual crowd of natives was idling around on 
the bank, and P., with a wave of his cane in 
their direction, said : " You see I have brought 
down a few of the boys to meet you and give 
a friendly appearance to your reception." 

Here are planted an American college and 
school under the patronage of the United 



100 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Presbyterian Church. This society has schools 
at Cairo, Assioot, and other points on the 
river. They are all very flourishing and doing 
a vast amount of good in this benighted 
country. The bazaars are extensive and in- 
teresting, and here are manufactured, by the 
crudest methods and with the most primitive 
sort of tools, beautiful red and black pottery 
and canes of various kinds, fly brushes, with 
ivory and ebony handles, and some very beau- 
tiful articles of ivory. On the morning of 
Saturday we rode across the plain, then 
climbed the mountain, where incidentally we 
took a look at the tomb of the Sacred Wolf, 
and from the summit obtained a most magnifi- 
cent view of the Nile valley for many miles. 
Dean Stanley says of this picture; "The 
brightness of the green is perfectly dazzling 
and of a tint such as can probably be seen no- 
where else in the world. It stretches away for 
miles on either side, unbroken save by the 
mud villages which here and there lie in the 
midst of the verdure like the marks of a soiled 
foot on a rich carpet." 

Of course we did the bazaars, and of course 
we carried away a lot of truck more or less 
valuable. The donkeys here are among the 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 101 



best in Egypt, and in fact the whole city has a 
most refreshing effect, after visiting the towns 
above and below it. The American consul is 
a Turk, and a very wealthy gentleman at that. 
He has a beautiful place and we enjoyed a 
walk through his extensive grounds, listening 
to the singing of the birds amid the fragrance 
of the flowers in the cool of the afternoon. 
We left Assioot at noon, saw nothing of in- 
terest until Monday morning. The shadoofs 
were constantly at work. An almost endless 
procession of dahabeeyahs was going up and 
down the river, sails set, or furled, according 
as the wind favored them. Now and then we 
passed a private one ; these latter, much to 
our surprise, generally flying the American 
flag, at sight of which we always cheered 
vociferously. Soon after breakfast, Monday, 
we arrived at Keneh and rode over to see the 
temple of Denderah, one of the best preserved 
in all Egypt. " It was built like all Egyptian 
temples, in the centre of a vast circular wall 
of crude bricks, which was so high and so thick 
that when the two gates were closed through 
which admission was obtained, nothing could 
be seen or heard of what was taking place 
within." Commenced by the nth Ptolemy, 



102 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



although possibly Cleopatra may have laid the 
foundations, it was finished by Tiberius and 
decorated by Nero. During the time that its 
massive columns were being set in place, Jesus 
Christ was preaching the new gospel of peace at 
Jerusalem. This temple is remarkable in many 
particulars. In the first place, it is almost 
perfect ; the roof being entirely preserved. In 
the next place, it is crowded with inscriptions 
and bas-reliefs in every part, and it is the only 
temple in Egypt dedicated to Athor, the 
Egyptian Venus. The decorations are not in 
the best class of Egyptian art, for sculpture 
had begun to decline many years before the 
erection of this temple, but Egyptologists find 
much satisfaction in deciphering the inscrip- 
tions, and from them Mariette concludes that 
the Platonic school of thought, then flourish- 
ing at Alexandria, influenced largely the dec- 
orations of this temple, which sum up, through 
these images and pictures, the tenets of that 
school, viz. : the good, the beautiful, and the 
true. But what strikes the average tourist most 
forcibly, when he comes to examine the deco- 
rations of the temple, is the systematic van- 
dalism with which the faces of the reliefs have 
been defaced. This is another instance of 



SAKKARAH, BENI-HASSAN, AND DENDERAH. 103 

the " zeal " of the early Christians. From one 
end of this magnificent temple to the other, 
on the walls within and without, the columns, 
ceilings, passages, wherever a figure with a 
face was sculptured, with an energy, patience, 
and persistency which would claim our admira- 
tion, were it not for the bigotry which prompted 
it, some one had gone over every face with a 
chisel, mutilating the features beyond recogni- 
tion ; a few only in the secret passages, which 
fortunately these vandals failed to find, escaped 
mutilation. The amount of time necessarily 
consumed in this work of Christian fanaticism 
would unquestionably have sufficed to have 
built a much better Christian church than 
existed, in the early days of the new religion, 
for full five hundred years. 

I wish here to indicate in a general way the 
single idea, which for thousands of years was 
followed without deviation in the decoration 
of those unique monuments of antiquity. The 
temples were always of stone, the encircling 
walls of brick. They were not used like our 
churches as places of worship by the people, 
nor were any, in fact, except the kingand priests, 
admitted within the sacred enclosure, where 
certain fetes were celebrated by means of pro- 



104 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

cessions and other mummeries. The decora- 
tions were in tiers and might be read from left 
to right, or vice versa, the direction of the 
heads indicating the way the hieroglyphics 
ran. Sometimes, for the purpose of utilizing 
space, they were written up and down. The 
subject is always the same. The king presents 
offerings to, and solicits favors from, the gods, 
which the latter invariably grant. The temple 
was considered the personal monument of the 
king who founded it. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THEBES AND KARNAK. 

We reached Luxor Monday afternoon at 
4.30, and even the most indifferent amongst 
us felt his pulse quicken a little as the final 
signal of the engineer sounded sharply through 
the boat and we stopped within a stone's 
throw of the stately ruins of the temple of 
Amenophis III. It seems like desecration that 
a modern town should occupy a portion of the 
site of ancient Thebes, but the present treads 
ruthlessly upon the heels of the past. Grow- 
ing up on the east bank of the Nile is a 
thriving village of already about four thou- 
sand inhabitants. They have had the grace 
to call it Luxor instead of Cook Town, or 
some similar incongruous name, and for this, at 
least, we are thankful. Here are two good 
hotels, both generally crowded in the winter 
season. Donkeys are plenty on both sides of 
the river, prices moderate, boys not particu- 

105 



106 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

larly importunate, although not over-modest 
in their demands. The greatest annoyance is 
the gang of curiosity venders, which fairly 
swarms in and about every place of interest on 
both sides of the river. We might stand that 
if the authenticity of their curiosities was a 
little less doubtful, but we found invariably 
that the price was the same whether the article 
was genuine or bogus, and as the latter gen- 
erally outnumbered the former at least ten to 
one, the intrinsic value of the aggregate pur- 
chases of the steamer's party can be better 
estimated than described. 

The date of the foundation of Thebes, the 
No-Ammen of the Bible, is very doubtful, but 
as the oldest monument here is a tomb of the 
eleventh dynasty, it is probable that the city does 
not antedate the year 3000 B.C. With varying 
fortunes it lasted until 117 b.c, when it was 
captured by Ptolemy Lathyrus, after a three 
years' siege, and from that time forward was a 
place of no particular importance. Even with 
the knowledge of her present ruins it is diffi- 
cult to determine the size of this queenly city 
when at the zenith of her splendor. The 
larger portion was on the eastern side, while 
the section across the river was known as the 



THEBES AND KARNAK. 



107 



Libyan suburb. The expression of Homer, 
" Hecatompylus," " hundred-gated," could not 
have referred to the gates of the city, as, 
strangely enough, the city had no walls ; but 
probably referred in a general way to the 
propyls of the temples as being very numer- 
ous. It is scarcely credible that the city could 
have furnished " twenty thousand armed 
chariots fully equipped for war," as this would 
require from forty to eighty thousand horses 
and forty thousand men. As the proportion 
of chariots to cavalry and infantry was about 
one to twenty, we must infer one of three 
things : either the military force of the city 
consisted mainly of her chariots, which was 
unusual and highly improbable ; or the city 
and vicinity were able to furnish an army of 
about half a million men, which is absurd ; or 
the statement is chiefly a bit of Oriental 
imagination, which is doubtless the truth. 
Be this as it may ; that the city was of vast 
extent, the present ruins bear ample testimony. 
Of the location Stanley says : " Alone of the 
cities of Egypt, the situation of Thebes is as 
beautiful by nature as by art — two mountain 
ranges retire from the river, forming a circle 
around a wide green plain." Imagination 



108 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

fails us when we contemplate the unspeakable 
magnificence of the temple palaces of ancient 
Thebes. The great temples of Karnak and 
Luxor were united by a magnificent avenue 
of sphinxes, which led for nearly two miles 
across the plain. This roadway was sixty- 
three feet wide and the sphinxes stood only 
twelve feet apart. For fifteen hundred feet 
from Luxor they were of the usual form, with 
female heads. Those at Karnak were crio 
or ram-headed, sacred to Ammon. A similar 
avenue led from the main western front of the 
temple at Karnak to the quay on the banks of 
the river, and it is possible, but not probable, 
that this latter dromos was continued on the 
other side of the river. No less than eight of 
these avenues have been traced in various 
directions. 

We crossed the river at Luxor in large, un- 
gainly crafts, part row- part sail-boat, each 
party endeavoring to reach the other side 
first, in order to have the choice of donkeys. 
Our gondola held the best course, but, un- 
fortunately, ran on a sand-bar about twenty 
feet from the shore ; gang-plank too short to 
reach terra firma ; disappointment and dismay 
depicted on every countenance. But the crew 



THEBES AND KARNAK. 



109 



were equal to the occasion. Being satisfied 
that the galley was hard aground, they leaped 
overboard and carried us safely ashore. We 
men sat on the boatmen's shoulders, but the 
ladies could scarcely do so with propriety, to 
say nothing of their aversion to making the 
attempt, after seeing friend Ferris pitch head- 
long into the sand when essaying to land. 
But time pressed, and with many a feminine 
squeal, the ladies were grabbed by the strong 
boatmen, one on each side, and lugged feet 
foremost safely to the shore. 

We visited on the west bank the temple of 
Koorneh, much ruined, dedicated to the mem- 
ory and worship of Rameses I. by Sethi I., 
but not completed until the time of Rameses 
II. From this point we went along the 
mournful "valley of the dead" to visit the 
Bab-el-Molook, the tombs of the kings. Noth- 
ing can be more utterly desolate than this 
valley. Not a tree, not a shrub, not even a 
spear of grass or a straggling weed can be 
seen along its entire course. The change 
from the fertile plain of Thebes to this dread- 
ful barren waste is positively startling. The 
cliffs tower perpendicularly on either side ; 
huge boulders and masses of rock lie scattered 



110 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

about in wild confusion. No bird enlivens 
this dreary place with its cheerful song, and 
in by-gone centuries as the funeral procession 
wound its lonely way over this desolate path 
to the last resting-place of the mighty one 
whose mummy was borne upon the shoulders 
of the priests, the occasion must truly have 
been invested with a solemnity which nothing 
else, save these dreary surroundings, could 
possibly have imparted. 

The construction of these tombs, belonging 
to the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties, 
differs essentially from those of Sakkarah and 
Beni-Hassan, in that there is no exterior 
chamber where the surviving relatives might 
meet. These are excavated out of the rock, 
and consist of long inclined passages with 
here and there small chambers and halls. 
The tombs in the eastern valley are twenty-five 
in number, but are not all tombs of kings. 
As a rule, they are elaborately ornamented 
with pictures and hieroglyphics, many of them 
very beautiful, mostly portraying scenes of a 
funereal or religious character, although some 
of them contain pictures of things pertaining 
to the material world. The gods are strange, 
and one is struck with the frequency with 



THEBES AND KARNAK. Ill 

which serpents and snakes are pictured. These 
tombs are, many of them, of great extent ; for 
what object is not known as yet. Thus the 
tomb of Sethi I., is 470 feet in length to a 
point where fallen rocks prevent further ex- 
ploration. The most extensive tomb yet dis- 
covered is at Assaseef, not far from the tem- 
ple of Koorneh, belonging to a wealthy priest 
named Petamunoph. It is 862 feet long with- 
out the lateral chambers, and covers an area of 
28,809 square feet, or about an acre and a quar- 
ter ! It is much infested with bats. On another 
occasion we visited the tomb of Rekhmara, a 
private individual. This was extremely interest- 
ing, as showing much relating to the manners 
and customs of the Egyptians. A grand proces- 
sion of foreign officers bringing presents of 
all kinds ; these in the outer chamber ; while 
in the inner chamber artisans of all kinds are 
busy at work, masons, forgers, carpenters, 
rope- and cabinet-makers, and sculptors. Then 
there are other scenes representing a banquet, 
musical entertainment, and what I shall call a 
friendly garden party. 

Our next visit was to Karnak ; Karnak the 
magnificent ; Karnak the wonderful ; Karnak 
beautiful beyond description. I shall only 



112 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

give a few dry facts concerning it, backed by 
a fewer dryer figures, and then regretfully bid 
it good-bye with the despair that the painter 
feels when endeavoring to reproduce on can- 
vas the tints of an Egyptian sunset. The 
total length of the temple was upwards of 

I, 200 feet ; breadth, 348 feet. It was sur- 
rounded by a wall 25 feet thick and 80 feet 
high, and the total length of the enclosure 
was 1,995 feet. It was commenced by Osir- 
tasen I., B.C. 2433, and added to by various 
monarchs down to and including Alexander 

II. , 81 B.C. It was not, strictly speaking, one 
building, the very nature of its construction 
precluding the possibility of such a thing, but 
a succession of courts — some covered, some 
open, — temples, halls, and sanctuaries. Thus, 
in the centre of the Hall of Caryatides, Queen 
Hatasu, the daughter of Thothmes I., raised 
the two largest obelisks in the world. One 
has fallen, the other is where she placed it 
over two thousand years ago. The upper 
part was covered with pure gold, and the obe- 
lisk was probably gilded from top to bottom. 
An inscription informs us that the two col- 
umns were completed and erected in seven 
months from the time they were commenced 



THEBES AND KARNAK. 



113 



in the quarry at Assouan ! The Hypostyle 
Hall of the Great Temple, which is generally 
spoken of as the Temple, contains 140 col- 
umns, the central ones 34 feet in circumfer- 
ence and 62 feet high, not counting the plinth 
and abacus. Pylons and propylons of the 
most gigantic proportions marked the en- 
trances on different sides ; that on the west, 
350 feet wide, and the towers 150 feet high; 
the doorway 100 feet high, while many of the 
roof beams, all of red sandstone, were 25 feet 
long ; the walls decorated with the most 
magnificent sculptures, here recounting the 
various deeds of different monarchs, but 
chiefly those of Rameses II., in his wars 
with the Khetas, the Hittites of the Bible. 
These form the subject of the third Sallier 
Papyrus, and are commemorated on the walls 
of almost every temple built by that monarch. 
Being separated from his army he six times 
charges the enemy and, single-handed, scatters 
them, fighting successively against 2,500 chari- 
ots and 100,000 men. Taking into considera- 
tion the fact that Rameses was only fifteen 
years old at the time of this exploit, he was 
excusable for feeling somewhat elated over it. 
14 There is in truth no building in the world to 

8 



114 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



compare with it. The Pyramids are more stu- 
pendous, the Coliseum covers more ground, 
the Parthenon is more beautiful, yet in nobility 
of conception, in vastness of detail, in artistic 
beauty of the highest order, the Hall of Pillars 
exceeds them everyone." 

The last day we spent at the Rameseum 
and the temple of Medinet-Habou, taking a 
parting look at the statues of Memnon on the 
way home. I cannot describe them, beautiful 
as they are, even in their ruins, but I venture 
to say that there is no one, be he never so little 
interested in antiquities, but would feel amply 
repaid for all the annoyances of a trip to Egypt 
were he only to ride across this beautiful 
fertile plain to see these evidences of a van- 
ished civilization. Broken and scattered by 
some mighty force, the very nature of which 
is to this day a mystery to modern science, 
before the temple of Rameses II., are the 
remains of the once gigantic Syenite statue of 
that monarch, which, when entire, was three 
times as large as the great obelisk at Karnak, 
and weighed nearly twelve hundred tons ! Fig- 
ures give but little idea of this most prodigious 
masterpiece of Egyptian skill, but it was a 
seated figure fifty-seven feet five inches in 



THEBES AND KARNAK. 



115 



height, measuring twenty-seven feet across the 
back, five feet across the foot, and the toes 
were three feet long. Compared with the 
colossal statue of Memnon, fully one half 
larger ! I had almost forgotten a satisfactory 
side trip we made to Dayr-el-Medeeneh, a lit- 
tle temple erected by Euergetes II., 146 B.C., 
the sculptures of which are most interesting, 
being well preserved, representing Philopater 
as he appeared before Osiris to be judged. 
The pictures give the modern name of the 
" Judgment Hall of Osiris " to the temple. 
We left Luxor early Friday morning, most re- 
gretfully, having passed three charming days, 
the remembrance of which we shall always 
cherish. 



CHAPTER X. 



EDFOO, PHIL^E, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 

We visited Esneh next. The temple is 
situated in the middle of the town. Only the 
Hypostyle Hall has been cleared out. The 
remainder of the temple is covered by the 
houses of the town, and no effort has yet been 
made to excavate it. If it is as perfect as the 
portico, it will be a great treat to those who 
in the future may see it. The natives here 
make very pretty wicker baskets of red and 
white straw, which they sell for little or noth- 
ing. The same afternoon we reached Edfoo, 
the most beautiful and perfect of all the temples 
in Egypt, founded by Ptolemy Philopater, 
222 B.C. "Who enters that gate crosses the 
threshold of the past, and leaves two thousand 
years behind him. In these vast courts and 
storied halls all is unchanged. Every pave- 
ment, every column, every stairway is in its 
place." The roof, with the exception of a few 

116 



EDFOO, PHILyE, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 



117 



stones, is perfect ; the walls are crowded with 
hieroglyphics. The magnificent pylon, 250 feet 
wide and 125 feet high, is absolutely perfect, 
and from its summit we watched a sunset of 
that peculiar beauty which Egypt alone dis- 
plays. We did not stop at Silsileh, the famous 
sandstone quarries from which the materials 
for the temples of Thebes were obtained, the 
landing being difficult, but we did stop a few 
minutes to look at the picturesque ruins of the 
Kom-Ombo, and twenty-six miles farther on, 
at four o'clock, we reached our upward journey's 
end at Assouan, the First Cataract of the Nile. 
Immediately we started in small boats for the 
island of Elephantine, where are some frag- 
mentary remains of ancient temples of no 
particular interest. The view, though, of the 
town upon the other side and the river was 
interesting, as here the black granite crops 
out everywhere, forming a pleasant change to 
the eye after so many miles of earthen river- 
banks. After sunset we started back for the 
steamer. There were four boat-loads of us. 
Coming up the wind blew merrily, and we 
bowled along under the lateen sail which all 
the boats, both great and small, carry. But 
the return trip was to be a contest of muscle. 



118 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

Our boat, four oars, started next to the last, a 
hard-looking old craft, weighted about the 
same as the others, passengers chiefly Ameri- 
cans. We soon passed one boat manned by 
a poor crew, but at this point a six-oared craft 
with the Scotch contingent aboard came creep- 
ing alongside and, with a cheer, endeavored 
to pass us. This was too much for us, so the 
two W.'s and myself, having stripped off our 
coats, each grasped an oar and, mindful of our 
training at Yale, determined to put in a few 
strokes for the honor of Uncle Sam. Our 
Scotch friends had cheered too soon, and, 
after a stubborn contest of a quarter of a mile, 
we shook them off entirely. But the remain- 
ing boat, on which we were now gaining, con- 
tained a few of the Scotch sympathizers, nota- 
bly young R., so we determined, if possible, 
to make a clean sweep. It was a stubborn 
contest, for our opponents rowed pluckily and 
well, but in the course of the next half-mile 
we had beaten them an open length, at which 
our black oarsmen nearly went wild. 

The next day we visited the town and were 
much interested, especially at the strange 
variety of people we saw in the streets, some 
Bishareen Arabs from far up the river coming 



EDFOO, PHILiE, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 



119 



in for a large share of attention. They were 
jet-black, wore their hair in curls nearly down 
to their shoulders or else done up on top of 
their heads in some fantastic shape, and some 
of them were extraordinarily handsome, with 
features so delicate that it was actually impos- 
sible to distinguish male from female. In the 
evening, prayers were read on shipboard, very 
badly, by the Doctor. 

I was so fortunate at Assouan, as to meet 
through the kindness of Mr. Cook, Majors 
Drage and David of the Egyptian army, who 
came down to call on us as soon as we arrived. 
Major Drage had been in the country four 
years, and was with the unfortunate expedition 
of General Stewart which tried to rescue 
General Gordon. The Major was very out- 
spoken as to the unfitness of Colonel Wilson 
for the command after Stewart was wounded, 
and thought that if that disaster to the army 
had not occurred, General Gordon might have 
been saved. One would think that this ser- 
vice in Egypt would be the last thing an 
English officer would desire, but quite the 
contrary is true. The colonel and both majors 
(there are no lieutenant-colonels) of all the 
Egyptian regiments are English, the remain- 



120 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

ing officers, even of the Soudanese regiments, 
being Egyptians, as the Soudanese do not 
read or write. So great is the anxiety to 
obtain the detail for the Egyptian service, that 
Major David told me his name was on the 
application roll three years before he received 
the appointment. The desirability arises from 
the fact that the pay is three or four times as 
large as in the English army, and there is 
ample opportunity to manoeuvre troops, with 
some added likelihood of seeing active service. 
There are four of these officers here, thousands 
of miles from home, the only English-speaking 
people, in command of eight hundred or a 
thousand native troops ; and here they must 
stay through the sweltering heat of the sum- 
mer (the thermometer often reaching 125 in 
the shade), with no prospect of seeing any of 
their kind except during the brief nine weeks 
of winter travel. I pity them, even if they do 
not ask it. 

The trip from Assouan to Philae was the 
longest, and promised to be the most fatiguing 
we had yet undertaken. A short railroad ex- 
tends around the Cataract, connecting the town 
with the upper steamboat-landing, and by rail 
is the easy but not fashionable way of making 



EDFOO, PHILyE, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 121 



the trip. We were arrayed in our most ap- 
palling rigs as it promised to be a very warm 
day, rode past the barracks of the gallant 
Soudanese troops, among the government 
warehouses where were the vast quantities 
of military stores destined for the army far- 
ther up the river, crossed the railroad, and 
were soon threading our way among the 
barren rocky hillocks which encircle the 
town to the northward, like a huge line of 
bastions. We rode among the pits of the 
famous granite quarries of Syene, the most 
famous of all the world, whence the marvel- 
ous obelisks which adorn the "piazzas'' of 
mighty Rome ; that most beautiful square of 
all the world, the famous as well as infamous 
Place de la Concorde ; the lonely plain of the 
deserted Heliopolis, and the matchless park of 
the metropolis of the New World ; and we saw 
a monstrous obelisk, ninety-five feet long and 
eleven and a half feet in breadth, that has 
never been detached from the live rock. We 
crossed the river in boats, and were soon ex- 
ploring the ruins of the island of Philae. The 
island is certainly very picturesque from the 
mainland, surrounded as it is with a setting of 
black granite rock beyond on the island of 



122 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Biggi, with here and there a graceful palm-tree 
waving over some ruined wall or broken col- 
umn, but there is too much rubbish on the 
island itself to make it very attractive. The 
great temple of Isis is the principal building, 
built by the Ptolomies. Though ruined in 
part, it is still a beautiful structure. Ferguson 
says of it : " No Gothic architect in his wild- 
est moments ever played so freely with his 
lines and dimensions, and none, it must be 
added, ever produced any thing so pictu- 
resquely beautiful as this. It contains all the 
play of light and shade, all the variety of 
Gothic art, with the massiveness and grandeur 
of Egyptian style. There is no building that 
gives so favorable an impression of Egyptian 
art as this. It is true it is far less sublime 
than many, but hardly one can be quoted as 
more beautiful." On the east side of the 
island, a little way from the temple, is that 
wonderfully beautiful structure called Pha- 
raoh's Bed, for what reason no one knows, 
absolutely perfect, except that the roof has 
fallen in. 

It was at Philae that we made our first suc- 
cessful stand against the domineering of the 
Scotchmen. After lunch it was suggested 



EDFOO, PHILyE, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 123 



that, instead of returning at 1 130, as arranged, 
we should wait until the intense heat had 
somewhat subsided. Put to vote by Profes- 
sor Spencer, there was no opposition, but as 
the suggestion came from an American, the 
Scotchmen, evidently, in thinking it over af- 
terwards, came to the conclusion that their 
position of "boss" was being invaded. They 
accordingly began to mutter, and finally came 
out boldly with a demand that the programme 
should be carried out as arranged : that the 
party should start back at 1 130, and that the 
dragoman should go with them. One drago- 
man had already been allowed to go with a 
party, among whom there was not a single 
American, to shoot the rapids, an entire gra- 
tuity, as Cook does not furnish a dragoman 
for this purpose, but as " Boss T." wanted 
him, no one objected. This party consisted 
of six. Now came " Boss H." with a demand 
that Hornstein should accompany them, twelve 
in number, back to the steamer, leaving us, 
twenty, to get back as best we could. We 
pointed out the fact that we were a majority 
of the entire company and entitled to our 
share, and on this occasion, strange as it might 
seem to them, we proposed to have it. One 



124 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



word led to another, until finally one of our 
party informed the " boss," with more force 
than elegance, " You may run your crowd to 

suit yourselves, but I '11 be d d if you shall 

run the rest of us any longer." We carried 
our point, and the dissenters filed out of Pha- 
raoh's Bed sadly crestfallen, amid the ill-con- 
cealed exultation of Uncle Sam's children. 

From Philae, in the cool of the afternoon, 
we took boats and rowed down the river 
among the small islands of black granite to 
the head of the main rapid (for the cata- 
ract is nothing more than a series of rapids, 
boats being able to go up and down in a good 
stage of water), and here we saw the Nubians 
shoot the rapids sitting astride of logs about 
six or eight feet long. It would have been no 
particular trick to have gone down on a plank, 
but I do not exactly see how they managed 
the log. 

The Arab boatmen have a curious way of 
keeping up their spirits when rowing. They 
cannot be said to sing, but one of them says 
something in a chanting tone, and the rest 
respond, sometimes with the same words, some- 
times with something different. The mem- 
bers of the crew take turns leading, and the 



EDFOO, PHIL^E, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 125 

song is often changed. I can only remember 
one, which sounded like this : 

* - Esau-had -a-sow," 

and then the response : 

1 ' E-had-a-sow-ee. " 

I did not know that we had any circus riders 
in our party until the day we went from Philse 
back to Assouan. But that day I witnessed a 
feat which would have set the audience at the 
Paris Hippodrome wild with delight and enthu- 
siasm. A stout lady (I mention no names) had 
allowed her donkey to stray beneath the low- 
spreading branches of a thorn tree. When too 
late she endeavored to turn the headstrong 
beast back to the trail, but without avail. It 
seemed inevitable that the rider would be 
swept off backwards. But was she appalled ? 
No ! no ! Quickly she withdrew her left foot 
from the stirrup, slid out of the saddle, still 
keeping her right foot over the horn, and un- 
concernedly hopped along beside the donkey 
on one foot until the obstacle was passed ! 
Speak no more to me of Lola Montez, or the 
fearful ride of Mazeppa. 

Tuesday early we left Assouan, on our way 
down, and on that evening reached Luxor 



126 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



without having made a stop. The next morn- 
ing we paid our farewell visit to Karnak, and 
at high noon left Luxor, having first secured 
one of those priceless relics of antiquity, an 
unbroken roll of papyrus. 

The same afternoon, about four o'clock, we 
called at Keneh, opposite Denderah, a city of 
some importance, noted chiefly for its porous 
earthenware, used so extensively throughout 
Egypt, and its dates. The process of mould- 
ing clay is much the same the world over, and 
although we visited a pottery we were not 
particularly interested. There is a colony of 
dancing girls here who dance very badly. 
They say the best of them have removed to 
Luxor, but this must be a mistake, as the 
dancing at Luxor is worse than at Keneh. 
We reached Bellianeh, the port of Abydus, 
about noon the next day, and, securing excel- 
lent donkeys, started for the famous temple of 
Sethi I. The route lay for seven miles across 
a plain of the most wonderful fertility. As far 
as the eye could reach in either direction, 
stretched the beautiful deep rich green of the 
growing wheat and barley. Here and there 
were groves of palms, with the huts of the 
natives and more pretentious dwellings of the 



EDFOO, PHIL/E, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 127 

landed proprietors nestling among them, while 
scattered over the plain itself were the summer 
huts of the laborers, built entirely of corn- 
stalks. Everywhere the zakkias were at work, 
and we noticed many new wells that had been 
dug to save the crops, the Nile being so ex- 
tremely low this season. 

Tiresome as the donkey rides generally are, 
we were sorry when this one came to an end, 
and we dismounted before the white limestone 
temple of Sethi I., deservedly famous for the 
magnificence of its sculptures, the handiwork 
of Hi, the great artist of that monarch. The 
pictures, some of them painted and some of 
them plain (the limestone of the walls giving 
them the effect of white marble), were fortu- 
nately never discovered, and therefore never 
mutilated, by " the zeal of the early Christians." 

The subjects in many chambers are the same 
as in other temples, but one picture is the 
famous scene where Sethi is instructing his 
son, the young Rameses, to catch the wild 
bull. What interested us most, however, was 
the priceless chronological table of the kings, 
beginning with Menes and ending with Sethi I., 
seventy-six in number, extending over an un- 
broken period, thirty-six hundred years ! We 



128 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



also saw here in the chambers a very old — I 
had almost said new — way of making a vaulted 
ceiling. Blocks of prodigious length and thick- 
ness were thrown across from wall to wall (I 
measured one of them, twenty-one feet long), 
and then the under side hewn out to make the 
vaulting, the great thickness of the blocks ren- 
dering the process perfectly safe. A little to 
the north we saw the vast brick wall which 
stands upon the site of Thinis, " the cradle of 
the Egyptian monarchy, where King Menes 
held his court seven thousand years ago ! " 
It is here the tomb of Osiris stood, and to this 
locality, according to Plutarch, the wealthy 
from all parts of Egypt were brought to be 
interred, that they might repose near their 
beloved god — and be on hand for the resur- 
rection, I suppose. Vast heaps of ruins are 
here, and it is surmised that further excavations 
may yield rich results, possibly the tomb of 
Osiris himself, although nothing of importance 
has yet been brought to light. We stopped a 
few moments at the ruined temple of Rameses 
II., admiring the beautiful blocks of alabaster 
which formed the sanctuary, and then pro- 
ceeded to the curious old Coptic village sur- 
rounded by a wall. We entered through the 



EDFOO, PHIL/E, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 129 

one rickety gate and visited the monastery, a 
building said to have been erected six hundred 
years ago, consisting of two naves parallel 
with each other, each lighted by means of half 
a dozen curious little domes. Back of the 
nave, also in a parallel line, are the cells of 
the monks, closed with gaudily painted doors 
and lattices. If the guides had informed us 
that the building was six thousand years old 
instead of six hundred, I could easily have be- 
lieved them. Outside was a school, the 
" books " being tin or copper plates. I could 
not see that these Christians were any cleaner 
or any less susceptible to backsheesh than their 
unregenerate brethren of the Moslem faith on 
the other side of the wall. 

Although Bellianeh is a large town, we did 
not discover that any thing was made here 
save a crude sort of sling manufactured by the 
boys. Next afternoon we reached Assioot 
about four o'clock. The following day we lost 
some valuable time trying to pull the steamer 
Sethi off a sand-bar, and Sunday we distin- 
guished ourselves by running into a dahabeeyah 
loaded with wheat, and received a good crack 
on our port side, breaking the wheel and 
poking a hole through the paddle-box. The 

9 



130 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

dahabeeyah escaped unhurt, although the crew 
were frightened nearly to death. Sunday 
evening we did not reach Cairo as advertised, 
but had a respectable sacred concert, which we 
concluded with a roaring " Star-Spangled 
Banner." Monday morning, through Arab stu- 
pidity we ran ashore, smashed a paddle, re- 
paired it in about two hours, and at one o'clock 
reached Cairo. We were sorry that the trip 
was over, and sorry to leave the sour bread ; 
sorry to bid good-bye to the lying Mustapha, 
with his monstrous initials of coffee cups, his 
scarabei of doubtful antiquity and inordinate 
prices, and his general good-natured money- 
making rascality ; and, above all, sorry to part 
with the many pleasant people, so genial and 
companionable, that in our recollections of 
them we shall gradually but surely forget the 
creatures who, like troublesome flies, serve 
only to annoy, not being of sufficient import- 
ance to arouse one's anger. 

One of the most fertile sources of amusement 
for me on the way down was hearing Captain 
D., an Englishman, find fault with every thing 
connected with the trip. The table was " dread- 
ful," the " Arab smell " was in every thing, 
even the boiled eggs ; the wines were " poison- 



EDFOO, PHILyE, AND BACK TO CAIRO. 131 

ous," the service " wretched," and the prices of 
every thing " monstrous." Every time the 
whistle blew for some dahabeeyah to get out of 
the way, the captain was sure it was for no 
good purpose, but merely a petty annoyance. 
When we stopped to help the unfortunate 
Sethi off the sand-bar, the captain protested 
loudly because of the delay, saying it was 
"monstrous to turn our steamer into a tug- 
boat," and so on ad infinitum. Taken as a 
whole the trip was not fruitful of episodes. 



CHAPTER XI. 



CAIRO. 

Sunday we drove out to the Khedive's 
palace of Gezereh, which lies opposite Boolak. 
It is now unoccupied. The interior is beauti- 
fully furnished and the general effect of the 
royal apartments pleasing and in good taste ; 
one room finished entirely — walls, ceiling, and 
all — with what seemed to be Turkish toweling 
being particularly effective. The staircase, 
leading from the grand reception room down- 
stairs to a similar apartment immediately over 
it, is quite impressive. The grounds are 
beautifully kept, and a small kiosk of Moorish 
architecture adds greatly to their picturesque- 
ness. The road past the palace, known as the 
Gezereh road, has now almost entirely super- 
seded the famous Shoobra road as the favorite 
fashionable drive of the Caireens. The popu- 
lar days for riding are Friday and Sunday. 
We saw the Khedive, surrounded by a mounted 

132 



CAIRO. 



133 



escort, and accompanied by the Grand Vizier, 
spinning merrily along in a very modest car- 
riage, behind a fairly good span of bays. 

The same day we visited the Boolak Mu- 
seum, one of the most interesting collections 
in the world, although it is only ten years old. 
The former Khedive, Ismail, doubtless violated 
some fundamental principle of international 
law, which rendered his deposition a necessity. 
But he did at least one thing which will en- 
title him to the everlasting gratitude of all 
future generations. He prohibited the further 
depredations of the band of English, French, 
and German robbers who had, for years, been 
systematically plundering Egypt of her choicest 
antiquities. Every thing connected with the 
ancient history of the country was placed 
under the absolute control of Mariette Pasha, 
and it became a serious matter for any one to 
attempt the pilfering of temples and tombs on 
even the smallest scale. 

No account of Egypt, no matter how super- 
ficial, would be complete without some men- 
tion of this extraordinary man. His labors 
were indefatigable, and those persons who 
have not visited the scenes of his great dis- 
coveries can form no adequate idea of the 



134 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

difficulties he encountered and the almost 
insurmountable obstacles he overcame. Al- 
though a Frenchman, his remains are now 
peacefully reposing in the land of his adoption, 
in the court of the Boolak Museum, beneath 
a magnificent monument, about which four 
sphinxes, from the Avenue of Sphinxes, before 
the Apis Mausoleum, his greatest discovery, 
keep silent watch, as they did in the necropolis 
of Sakkarah three thousand six hundred years 
ago. Of all the wonderful, curious and beau- 
tiful things we saw at Boolak, and the Museum 
is full of them, we saw nothing that so inter- 
ested us as the famous wooden figure which 
stands in the centre hall — all things con- 
sidered perhaps the most remarkable statue in 
the world. It is between three and four feet 
high, represents a man walking, holding a staff 
in his left hand, and while not fully identified, 
it is supposed to be a statue of one of the vil- 
lage dignitaries of Sakkarah, near which place 
it was found. Lenormant well describes it as 
follows : " A miracle alike of nature and art, 
this statue as a study of nature, as a striking 
and life-like portrait, is unsurpassed by any 
Grecian work. From the inscription on the 
tomb in which it was discovered we know that 



CAIRO 



135 



it represents a man of some importance during 
the fifth dynasty. Parts of this figure have 
been much injured. It has lost the thin coat 
of colored stucco which originally covered it, 
and on which the sculptor probably added his 
finishing touches. Every thing is faithfully 
copied from living nature. It is undoubtedly 
a true portrait. The modelling of the body is 
marvellous, but it is the head which most chal- 
lenges admiration ; it is a prodigy of life. 
The mouth, parted by a slight smile, seems 
about to speak." The " Sheik el-Beled," as 
Maspero calls him, must have lived about four 
thousand years B.C., so that six thousand years 
"have passed over this fragile piece of cedar 
and mimosa wood without effacing the marks 
of the artist's chisel." 

Near by is the statue in diorite (a beauti- 
ful green stone, harder even than basalt) of 
Shafra, the builder of the Second Pyramid. 
He lived more than two centuries before 
Sheik el-Beled or Ra-Em-Ke, as he is some- 
times called. " It is a stupendous undertaking 
for the work of a man's hand. But the most 
overwhelming thought is, that instead of sav- 
age races we find a firmly constituted society, 
the formation of which must have required 



136 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



long centuries of development, a civilization far 
advanced in science and art, and possessed of 
mechanical processes suitable to the construc- 
tion of huge monuments of indestructible 
solidity." 

Opposite Mariette's tomb, within the Mu- 
seum, are the mortal remains of those greatest 
of Egyptian rulers, whose fame will endure 
till time shall be no more. And yet I doubt 
if there is one person of all the multitudes 
who yearly crowd these courts, who in his 
heart does greater homage to the memory of 
the mighty Sethi or his still more mighty son, 
Sesostris, than to the memory of the unassum- 
ing Frenchman, whose fame, unmarred by the 
blood of conquest, unstained by the tears of 
the widows and fatherless, has for its enduring 
foundation the revelation to the waiting world, 
of a vast knowledge regained after centuries 
of patient research. 

They have dragged from their last resting- 
place the remains of Rameses II., and the 
world sees how little the might of the past 
can influence the might of the present. Peo- 
ple gaze at the face of him who in his day 
was the unchallenged " King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords " : all with curiosity ; some 



CAIRO. 



137 



with laughter; few with respect. A flippant 
remark about his red hair, or crooked teeth, 
comes carelessly from the lips of those who in 
his day would have gladly crawled on their 
bellies from Memphis to Thebes for the mere 
privilege of entering his august presence. 
And yet there may be some excuse for such 
animals, because they doubtless have no more 
conception of this man and his greatness, than 
had that officer on the Ettore as to the proper 
use of the sextant. If, in the countless centu- 
ries to come, the bones of Mariette shall be 
dragged from their present tomb to gratify 
the curiosity of some searcher after knowl- 
edge, let us hope that the world will be better 
satisfied than is the case to-day with the mum- 
mies of these great Egyptians, that the cause 
justifies the sacrilege. 

We went to see the Howling Dervishes ; 
much as people generally visit a bear dance, 
for amusement. As I have never seen an 
account of their service which adequately de- 
scribes it, I give it in detail. 

The Howling Dervishes are a devout order 
of Islamism, and their performance — I can 
call it by no other name — is an act of prayer- 
ful devotion for the souls of the departed, and 



138 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



is " given " every Friday afternoon, from 1 130 
to 2:30, at the Gamor Kasr El Ain. The 
mosque is a very unpretentious affair in the 
outskirts of the town. The interior consists 
of a square floor covered with matting. In a 
semicircle, about in the centre, facing the 
east, stand the devotees, thirteen in number ; 
five with turbans, the others bareheaded and 
their hair flying. A portion of the time they 
stand on black sheep-skins, woolly side out, 
like Brian O'Lynn's breeches. One howler 
faces the remaining twelve. To the right and 
front are the musicians. The instruments are 
six small drums, three large tambourines, a 
pair of cymbals, a flute, and a horn. The 
musicians face north, and directly in front of 
them are two more dervishes, who conduct 
the services, assisted by the one in front of 
the semicircle. There was also a small child 
in the melee, but as he seemed a versatile 
chap, now beating a drum and again joining 
the circle, I was unable to make out the exact 
nature of his duties. A few chanted sentences 
from the leader are responded to by the others, 
and then all commence bowing, the motion 
growing quicker and quicker until the forward 
motion of the body is at the rate of sixty a 



CAIRO. 



139 



minute. This lasts four or five minutes. 
During all this time the music plays (?), but 
now it suddenly ceases ; the dervishes, how- 
ever, continue the motion, chanting in unison — 
keeping time with the motion of their bodies, 
which is now very violent, — words something 
like this, " Ee-oh-ee." After this there is a 
moment's rest. The leader in front of the 
circle chants a few words, the flute player 
answers with a flourish, the dervishes step 
back one pace off the sheep-skins and face 
first to the left and then to the right in unison, 
making a sort of grunting noise, " E-e-e-u- 
um " ; the turnings grow faster and faster, 
the howling being in time with the motion of 
the body ; leader chanting and flute playing. 
The noise when made rapidly much resembles 
the snoring of a pig. The place immediately 
in front of the howlers is now taken by another 
dervish from the circle. There were two old 
boys on the north end of the line who seemed 
to take it very easy, doubtless having served 
their apprenticeship many years before, while 
those in the centre with the flowing hair were 
by far the most violent. All now step forward 
on the skins, the dervishes nodding their heads 
and making a panting noise ; a few sentences 



140 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



are chanted by the leader, a flute solo follows, 
then all, in unison with the music, say 
" Ee-uu-hh " a few times ; another sentence, 
responded to with " Iii-uu-hh." Now are 
heard the drums and cymbals, and now the 
heads which had been nodding gently all the 
time commence to wag very violently. An- 
other pause ; the second leader takes off his 
black and white turban, which up to this time 
he has worn, allows his long hair to flow down 
over his shoulders, and the motion re-com- 
mences ; some howl, embellishing the noise 
with a yell ; the motion becomes more and 
more rapid until the maximum of sixty to the 
minute is attained. Another pause ; the musi- 
cians file out, the old pilgrim who manipulates 
the disabled trombone blowing a parting blast, 
which must have awakened the dead in the 
distant necropolis of Sakkarah ; the howlers 
chant a few measures, then one by one ad- 
vance, salute the leader in Oriental fashion, 
and the performence is over. 

Looking back at the scene now, its ludicrous 
features strike me forcibly, but somehow I did 
not feel disposed to laugh at the time. Incon- 
gruous as it all was, and utterly at variance 
with any religious ceremony I had ever wit- 



CAIRO. 



141 



nessed or dreamed of, there was an apparent 
sincerity and devotional spirit about it which 
impressed me greatly. 

One of our excursions from Cairo was to 
the site of the ancient city of Heliopolis, of 
which nothing now remains except a few heaps 
of rubbish and a single obelisk erected by Osir- 
tasen I., b.c. 2433. The drive is a beautiful 
one, past fertile fields and through shady 
avenues. 

We visited on our way an ostrich farm, 
said to be the largest one in the world, and 
owned by a Frenchman. In addition to rais- 
ing ostriches, they raise fifty cents out of the 
pocket of each visitor, which is certainly full 
value for all one sees. The farm is very 
complete and apparently well managed. It 
must be making a good deal of money — if the 
crop of visitors is large. There are about five 
hundred ostriches here at present, kept sepa- 
rated in different yards, both for the purpose 
of breeding and for growth. Female birds 
have grayish feathers, those of the males are 
black, with white tips, and wings, and brown- 
ish clusters at the tail. The ostrich has two 
toes, no feathers on the neck or legs, and 
skin of a bright red. The female lays between 



142 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

sixty and seventy eggs a year, and during the 
egg season she lays every other day. The 
eggs are hatched by incubators, and those 
that are not fertile have the u inwards " blown 
out and the shells sold to visitors at five francs 
each. If the demand is only sufficient for 
blown eggs I should not think the pro- 
prietor would go to the expense of hatching 
ostriches, as an ostrich or any other bird 
bringing in an annual revenue of $50 or $60 
in addition to the feather crop, is about as 
good a piece of property as Jack's goose that 
laid the golden egg. The eggs require forty- 
five days to hatch. The feathers are picked 
once a year in August, and good feathers sell 
for five francs each at the farm. The birds do 
not lay their eggs in regular nests like hens, 
but in the sand. Their food consists of alfalfa 
and coarse crackers, the latter brought from 
England in tin cases ; and a feed consists of 
about a pound of crackers a day with clover 
ad infinitum, A little bran is occasionally 
fed. The birds are not ugly toward their 
regular attendants, but often attack strangers 
savagely. 

After we left the ostrich farm we stopped 
for a moment to see the venerable tree be- 



CAIRO. 



143 



neath the grateful shade of which tradition 
says Joseph and Mary rested during their 
flight into Egypt. And it is quite probable, 
as the tradition of locality is so well preserved 
in this country, that this aged tree, if not the 
identical tree of the story, is at least a later 
offshoot from the same root. Near it is the 
Virgin's Spring, whose waters miraculously 
gushed forth to slake the thirst of the weary 
fugitives. As the well is about twenty feet 
deep, and as we have no knowledge that 
Joseph was provided with a rope and bucket, 
I am at a loss to know how he managed to get 
a drink. This well and one other are the only 
two living springs in the vicinity of Cairo. 

One night some of us visited a genuine 
Arab fair, held in the outskirts of the city, and 
it was one of the most novel experiences of 
the entire trip. These fairs are held in differ- 
ent cities at different seasons for a week or so ; 
the most important being that at Tintah, 
where as many as 200,000 people are said to 
congregate. The booths and tents are pitched 
in long avenues, and here all sorts of confec- 
tions and things to eat are sold. The idea of 
the fair seems to be for the people to eat, 
drink, pray, and be merry. We found the lo- 



144 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



cality brilliantly lighted with lanterns and 
torches, the booths gay with different-colored 
paper streamers, and the tents adorned with 
flags and pictures of the wonders to be seen 
within, after the manner of the traditional 
side-show on the circus ground. In many of 
the booths were grotesque figures of men and 
animals made of sugar, colored red, not a bad 
sort of cheap candy ; all sorts of Arab cookies 
and confections, spun sugar, fruits, a sort of 
corn-starch pudding, with nuts, sugar, and milk 
for sauce ; temperance drinks, sausages, but 
no vegetable or intoxicating drinks. Having 
respect for the eternal fitness of things, only 
such viands seemed to be for sale as were 
suitable for light evening refreshments. We 
tried most of them, barring the sausages, and 
found them not bad. Here would be a tent 
where to the strains of the barbaric music a 
fantastically arrayed Arab would be telling of 
the wonders to be seen within. Perhaps im- 
mediately adjoining it would be a prayer tent 
—the devotees apparently not the least dis- 
turbed by the boisterous merriment surging 
around them. And so up and down the long 
crowded streets ; every one good-natured, no- 
body drunk. The greatest attraction we were 



CAIRO. 



145 



informed was the theatre, where a celebrated 
troupe from Syria was performing- some blood- 
curdling tragedy. We edged our way into 
the crowded tent, managed to get reserved 
seats near the orchestra, listened to an over- 
ture, which would have paralyzed Theodore 
Thomas with its harmony of discords, and 
then the play commenced. The female char- 
acters in all these theatres are taken by young 
men, and for semi-barbarians their make up 
was very good — bustle, train, soda hair, rouge, 
and in fact all the ordinary accessories of the 
modern civilized toilet — I mean, of course, 
the stage toilet — seemed to be in use. In the 
play we saw a very wicked queen poison her 
husband, the king ; then she tried to poison 
the new king, his wife, and a job lot of the 
royal family. Providentially she failed, and 
then poisoned herself — having first killed a 
couple of courtiers with her dagger just to 
keep her hand in. Then the scene changed, 
and two rival armies had a terrific combat, in 
which all the troops were killed except the 
leaders on each side. These apparently 
goaded each other to a point of madness in 
orations rather long drawn out, and the scene 
terminated with one leader slaying the other, 

IO 



146 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

after quite an exciting broad-sword combat. 
We were informed that there were seventeen 
more acts, but as it was then 10:30, we con- 
cluded to go home, much to the astonishment 
of the remainder of the audience, who had 
evidently come to stay. 

Once we saw in the streets an Arab funeral. 
First came some priests chanting, then a lot of 
men also chanting, then the body, laid on a 
platform, covered with a pall, and borne on 
the shoulders of six or eight men. Then a 
crowd of women also chanting. 

This reminds me of the Arab music. An 
Arab or Egyptian tune, if by such a term their 
songs can be dignified, consist of a chanting, 
running up and down the scale through the 
compass of about an octave, without regard to 
time or rhythm. This is repeated again and 
again until the song is finished. Of course 
there is no music to it, and of course all the 
songs sound alike, but the Egyptians are great 
singers in their way, and strange as it may 
appear, they are unable to see the least par- 
ticle of music in a well rendered civilized ditty. 
I do not wish to be understood as inferring 
that we on the Mohammed A li rendered any 
such for their benefit, but I have been present 



CAIRO. 



147 



where such songs were sung in this far-off 
land. 

I cannot sympathize with those who lament 
because Cairo has lost much of its Orientalism 
through the opening of new streets and the 
erection of modern buildings. The novelty of 
dirt and ruins and tumbled-down old rookeries, 
albeit of the most unadulterated Oriental char- 
acter, is not pleasing ; and, after pausing a few 
hours among such evidences of antiquity, I am 
glad to bid farewell to the odors which have 
hung over certain localities from the days of 
Thothmes, I doubt not, and to fill my lungs 
with the delightful fragrant air arising from 
modern gardens, and to walk on modern side- 
walks beneath the grateful shade of spreading 
acacias, which I am not obliged to share with 
donkeys and camels. 

Far be it from me also to attempt to destroy 
any of the popular legends which cluster 
around this old city, but out of self-respect to 
my bump of credulity I must decline to accept 
the marvellous story of the wonderful leap of 
the Mameluke chieftain. I will not repeat the 
tale, but when one stands on the outer battle- 
ment of the citadel and sees the place down 
which the horse is said to have made the jump 



148 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

which saved the life of his master at the cost of 
his own, the strain is too great. The fact 
about the matter is simply this : the Mame- 
lukes were massacred in a narrow winding defile 
on the way up to the platform of the citadel, 
about an eighth of a mile from the top, and the 
chief who escaped happened to be late in reach- 
ing the rendezvous, arriving after the gates of 
Bab-el- Azab were shut. He took warning by 
the firing and shouting within, and putting 
spurs to his horse made the greatest possible 
haste out of the country. 

There is one thing refreshing about these 
people to a person just from the cynical and 
critical countries of the New World, where 
every alleged fact has to be supported by num- 
berless affidavits and bolstered up with all sorts 
of evidence before it will be received with even 
the slightest chance of belief, — and that is, their 
credulity. Given a certain legend in the misty 
ages of the past, and no matter how utterly 
improbable, nay, impossible, it may be when 
viewed in the light of history, yet these people 
will accept it, and once accepted, nothing can 
ever shake their faith in it. 

In the old mosque of Tooloon, erected a.d. 
879, and formerly of great beauty and magnifi- 



CAIRO. 



149 



cence (it cost $400,000), they show the place 
where Noah's Ark rested, where Abraham 
sacrificed the ram, and where Moses talked 
with Jehovah. I suppose they would show the 
remains of the Burning Bush if they were not 
afraid that the first party of American pilgrims 
who came along would lug off the twigs and 
branches for relics. 

At the entrance of this mosque are the two 
columns, about ten inches apart, between which 
no one but the faithful could pass. Now, ten 
inches is not much of a thickness for a full- 
grown man, and it is said that Ismail, when 
Khedive, fearing that he might be called on to 
prove his standing in the church by passing 
between these columns, a physical impossibility 
in his case, took time by the forelock and 
caused the space to be walled up, giving as a 
reason, that no infidel might ever have an op- 
portunity to make the attempt, and thus gain 
the blessings of Paradise. 

In one of the old Coptic churches, Aboo- 
Sirgeh, about four stories underground I should 
judge by the number of dark staircases we 
went tumbling down, they showed us the place 
where the infant Jesus was baptized in a stone 
basin as large as a bath-tub, and they tried to 



150 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

make us believe that in another place cut in the 
rock Mary " reposed " during the flight into 
Egypt. As this niche was only about three 
feet long, I was somewhat incredulous as to the 
" repose " she enjoyed ; but when they pointed 
out another niche, still smaller, in another part 
of the cellar, where Joseph " reposed," I was 
forced to the conclusion that Joseph was con- 
siderably under size, or was up to the great 
contortion act, such as one invariably sees in 
every well regulated Humpty Dumpty show. 
I endeavored to ascertain the nature of the 
coolness in the family which rendered it neces- 
sary for the husband and wife to occupy quar- 
ters about twenty rods apart, but on this point 
the descendant of Shem in attendance pro- 
fessed ignorance. 

One of the most interesting customs which 
modern civilization has not yet driven out is 
that of the runners before the carriages. Cen- 
turies ago, when the narrow streets of Thebes 
were crowded with people of all sorts, with 
camels and caravans and soldiers, the great 
and wealthy, who could not brook the slow 
motions of this human tide, bethought them of 
the employment of some of their countless 
slaves, agile fellows, well knit, to go before 



CAIRO. 



151 



their georgeous chariots, and with long staves 
to clear a passage through the surging masses 
of humanity. And then to Cairo, as in an 
earlier day to Rome, descended the custom. 
Broad sidewalks and broader streets have done 
away with the necessity for these runners in 
the Egyptian capital, but it is a pleasant sight 
to see these nimble fellows, bare-footed, bare- 
legged to the knee, dressed in beautiful cos- 
tumes, splendid with gold and silver em- 
broidery, sometimes singly, often in pairs, 
going at a swinging gait fifty feet in advance 
of the carriage, gracefully carrying their long 
staves in their right hands, lightly resting 
against the shoulder. Whether the route of 
the drive is laid out in advance, or whether 
they have some miraculous means of com- 
munication with the driver, I could not ascer- 
tain ; but I watched in vain as they came to a 
corner to see them look back for some intima- 
tion as to whether or not they should turn, 
and yet they never seemed to go the wrong 
way. 

We were much amused by the street jug- 
glers, some of whom were really quite clever, 
although I saw none who could convert his 
wand into a serpent, as did the soothsayers of 



152 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

Meneptah so many centuries ago, when Moses 
and Aaron stood before that puissant monarch 
in his splendid palace of ancient Memphis. 
We saw little boys who had taught monkeys 
to perform various tricks and keep time to the 
barbaric music of some outlandish instrument, 
but as the " time " of Egyptian music is treated 
with the utmost poetic license, I do not think 
that this is a very difficult accomplishment. 

I sat one evening in the little garden in 
front of the hotel, tired out with the exciting 
experiences of the day. The busy hum of the 
city had ceased. Occasionally a belated trav- 
eller went galloping by on a trim-eared, 
daintily-stepping donkey ; the " A-h-a-h " of 
the donkey-boy, supplemented by a loud whack 
at regular intervals, being the only sound to 
break the dreamy silence. "As I nodded 
nearly napping," my thoughts went back to the 
days when Memphis in all her glory raised her 
countless pylons and palaces in the air only a 
few miles away. And six thousand years ago, 
as to-night, the moon shone as brightly, the 
myriad stars looked down then, as now, upon 
all the joys and sorrows of mortal man. In 
the many princely gardens over there, amid 
nodding palms and countless roses, " eyes 



CAIRO. 



153 



looked love to eyes that spake again " ; the 
same story, old as time, but ever new when 
first 't is heard, was told by loving lips to will- 
ing ears. Softly floating on the evening air 
were the sweet strains from lute and harp. 
As if the thought had mysteriously aroused 
the spirit of the past, I heard a sound. In- 
tently I listened. Louder and louder it came ; 
I tried to move, to rise, but I could not. A 
nameless terror held me spellbound. Louder 
and louder it grew. My senses were gradually 
leaving me. With one mighty effort I roused 
myself, rushed toward the window whence the 
sound proceeded, and looking in saw a very 
diminutive American child torturing a very 
bad, tuneless piano with a melancholy attempt 
at u The Maiden's Prayer." The unspeakable 
incongruity of the interruption was too great. 
I fainted. 



CHAPTER XII. 



EGYPT AS IT WAS. 

At the risk of being a little prosy, I wish to 
speak briefly of the history of Egypt. It is 
the commencement of all history as to priority, 
and is more or less intimately connected with 
the history of the world for the past five thou- 
sand years. It is uncertain when and where 
Egyptian civilization had its beginning; in 
fact, the most eminent modern historians dif- 
fer by about three thousand years as to the 
actual date when Menes, the first king of Egypt, 
actually founded Memphis. It was long enough 
ago, however, to justify the assertion that both 
he and all his immediate descendants are dead. 
Herodotus, writing about 450 B.C., obtained 
much of his information personally in Egypt, 
but the first history of the country was written 
by Manetho, an Egyptian priest, 275 B.C. It 
is highly probable that he had access to all 
the writings then so jealously guarded among 

154 



EGYPT AS IT WAS. 



155 



the treasures of the temples, and that he also 
was enabled to hear all the traditions and un- 
written history of the nation then handed 
orally down from one generation of priests 
to another. His history was written in Greek 
and has been partially destroyed. There is 
much fable contained in it — such as the list of 
gods and heroes who for twenty-five thousand 
years prior to the accession of Menes ruled 
Egypt. But certain it is that the list of kings, 
which one sees on the walls of Abydos as per- 
fect to-day as it was when sculptured by Hi, 
the great artist of Sethi I., while some kings 
mentioned thereon may have been contempo- 
raneous sovereigns, is doubtless correct. 

Historians are pretty generally agreed on 
the division of Egyptian history into three 
periods: the ancient empire, 5000-2100 B.C., 
beginning with Menes and Memphis, includ- 
ing the building of the Pyramids, the gradual 
decline of Memphis, and the rising glories 
of Thebes; the middle empire, 2100 to 1525 
B.C., the splendor of Thebes, Karnak, the 
famous twelfth dynasty, Lake Mceris and the 
Labyrinth, and the irruption of the barbarous 
shepherd kings (about 1900 B.C.), their lamenta- 
ble rule of four hundred years, and their final 



156 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



overthrow and expulsion by Thothmes L, in- 
troducing the new empire, which for a thou- 
sand years, or until the conquest of Cambyses, 
527 B.C., constituted the most wonderful 
regime the world has ever known. To this 
period belong the eighteenth and nineteenth 
dynasties — Thothmes I. and III., Amunoph 
III., Sethi I., and his famous son Rameses II. 
Conquest, magnificence, luxury, refinement, 
distinguished this period, and although the 
decline of the empire commenced with the 
twentieth dynasty, there was occasionally a 
monarch like Psammetichus of the twenty- 
sixth dynasty and Necho, who by his great 
abilities served to postpone the overthrow, 
which finally came about under Cambyses. 

The civilization of Egypt was unique, and, 
with all its commending features, it seems 
strange that it should have flourished and 
died upon the banks of the Nile, leaving no 
impress on the nations which, unborn when 
Egypt had existed for thousands of years, 
grew and were conquered by her, and yet in 
some instances survived her. So closely were 
the distinctions maintained between the classes 
in which society was divided, that no one could 
rise higher than the station to which he was 



EGYPT AS IT WAS. 



157 



born. Dr. Brugsch says, however, that excep- 
tions were sometimes made in favor of very 
able men ; which, after all, only goes to show 
that this wonderful people were made of the 
same clay as other sinful mortals, for in all 
ages the talented and ambitious of humble 
birth have made a way, where none existed, 
whereby they might climb to those heights to 
which they aspired. 

It seems strange to us, who scoff at the 
divine right of kings, that these people should 
have held their sovereigns in such veneration, 
should load them with such high-sounding 
titles, fall prostrate before them when living, 
and after death erect over their remains the 
most stupendous and costly mausoleums the 
world has ever seen ; and yet the education of 
a monarch was such as would be accorded to 
him of whom the greatest achievements were 
to be expected. His companions were up- 
right, accomplished, and refined ; his daily life 
governed by rules held in veneration by all 
the priesthood. After his accession to the 
throne he was daily reminded by the priest of 
his duties. Among the priests were to be 
found the richest and most powerful of the 
nobility. They monopolized the learning, 



158 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



were the savants of the nation, and to this 
class belong the peculiarly holy body who 
were initiated in all those mysteries unknown 
to others save themselves and the king. Holy 
as were the priests, they did not deem it 
necessary to eschew all the good things of 
life, although they fasted at times, and denied 
themselves certain articles of diet. They 
owned one third of all the land free from all 
taxes, were liberally provided for by the gov- 
ernment, and wielded great influence among 
the people. Next in importance was the 
army, numbering about four hundred thou- 
sand men ; well disciplined and thoroughly 
organized. They also owned one third of the 
land, from the revenue of which each soldier 
was required to furnish his own arms and 
accoutrements. There was nothing peculiar 
about the army except the great number of 
war-chariots which it contained. The lower 
classes, although they could hold no land and 
were not allowed to participate in affairs of 
state, were far from being serfs. They were 
divided into different classes, varying in import- 
ance according to their different occupations, 
certain classes of artisans living together in 
certain quarters of a city, this custom being 



EGYPT AS IT WAS. 



159 



maintained to this day. Writing, as everybody 
knows, was done in hieroglyphics upon papyrus, 
a preparation of a reed which grew luxuriantly 
upon the banks of the Nile, but now no longer 
found. Some specimens of their literature of 
great antiquity have come down to us, notably 
the "Book of the Manifestation to Light," 
ordinarily known as " Book of the Dead." It is 
a fantastic work, being apparently a guide for 
the soul in its wanderings through the other 
world ; but for all its grotesqueness, it con- 
tains many excellent precepts of morality. 
There is in Paris a book written by Ptah- 
Hotep, a priest of the fifth dynasty, said to be 
the oldest book in the world. It would pass 
in these days as a work on moral science. 
Many other works, some scientific, some 
poetical, and even some on fiction, have been 
preserved ; while the papyri now so eagerly 
sought after by tourists are constantly adding 
to the priceless stores which form some of the 
chief treasures of the great Continental mu- 
seums. There appears to have been a good 
system of education under the control of the 
priests ; and although Wagner had not then 
invented music and harmony, they seem to 
have had a very fair substitute for the 



160 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



genuine article, as we know it. Of their 
matchless skill in building witness Karnak 
and the Pyramids. The art of sculpture seems 
to have been lost at least six thousand years 
ago. For aside from the wooden statue of 
Ra-Em-Ke in the Boulak Museum, all the 
statues of the kings and gods are stiff in atti- 
tude and grossly inaccurate in proportion. 
While the Egyptians possessed wonderful 
skill in working granite, and while their sculp- 
tures are exquisitely finished, there is a gro- 
tesqueness about their pictures, owing to the 
utter lack of any thing like perspective, which 
of course deprives them of the chief attribute 
of beauty. If they failed as artists, they were 
highly skilled in many useful accomplishments. 
They were acquainted with the use of steel, 
evinced great skill in alloying and casting, 
made glass and mosaics, worked gold and 
silver, imitated precious stones, were skilful 
cabinet-makers, spinners, and weavers, and 
their artisans made use of almost as great a 
variety of tools as are known to us to-day. 
Many musical instruments were known and 
enjoyed by them, and, whatever their w T oes, 
they seem never to have suffered under the 
torturing strains of a cabinet-organ. " The 



EGYPT AS IT WAS. 



161 



Egyptians were mild in disposition, polite in 
manners, reverential to their elders and supe- 
riors, extremely loyal, and intensely religious. 
They have been called a gloomy people, but 
their sculptures, reveal a keen sense of humor 

and love of caricature." 
ii 



CHAPTER XIII. 



CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 

We bade farewell to Cairo on Saturday, 
February 1 7th, most regretfully, passed through 
the beautiful region of the Delta, rendered 
here more beautiful by the large number of 
trees growing luxuriantly, and lunched at Zag- 
a-Zig, ninety-seven and one half miles from 
Cairo, in sight of the ruins of the ancient city 
of Bubastes. 

For thirteen miles farther we traversed the 
fertile plain, and thence for miles sped over 
the desert to Ismalia. No village or town of 
any country presents a picture so charming as 
does Ismailia. Not a tree breaks the monotony 
of the dreary desert which surrounds it on all 
sides, and yet in this little hamlet of perhaps 
two thousand souls are excellent concrete 
roadways, long rows of beautiful acacias, their 
interlacing branches forming most perfect 
arches, and many picturesque residences half 

162 



CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 



163 



hidden among the trees and shrubbery of still 
more beautiful gardens. And when we strayed 
through these boulevards under the silvery 
light of the full moon, it seemed like some 
fairy picture conjured up by the Genius of the 
Wonderful Lamp. The head-quarters of the 
Canal Company are here, and here Count de 
Lesseps has a beautiful villa. He will be 
president of the Canal Company as long as he 
lives, and after him his son will succeed him. 
Here is also one of the palaces of the Khedive. 
Old Ismail built it as a fitting place in which 
to entertain his almost numberless guests when 
the canal was opened, and here he did enter- 
tain them, too, in a manner fully in keeping 
with the fabled splendors of this land in the 
days of the Arabian Nights. We strayed 
through the deserted apartments in the twi- 
light, our footfalls on the bare floor giving 
back a ghostly echo, and we could almost 
fancy we saw the picturesquely clad servitors 
of the fallen monarch flitting here and there 
through the gathering gloom, while the sound 
of the rustle of silken gowns seems to float 
down the stately staircase as if some houri of 
the harem, walking unsuspiciously through the 
halls, had been suddenly surprised by this rude 



164 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



advent of the unbelievers. Poor old Ismail ! 
His ambition for the greatness and prosperity 
of his native land rendered him oblivious to 
the stern fact that the enlightenment of a 
people, with all the cheering results that its 
blessings bring, cannot come in a night, where 
ignorance, intolerance, poverty, and misrule 
have held undisputed sway for hundreds of 
generations. We left beautiful Ismailia more 
regretfully than would seem possible after so 
brief an acquaintance as twelve hours, embark- 
ing at seven o'clock Sunday morning on the trim 
little Egyptian post-boat, and after a delightful 
ride through the canal for four hours and a 
half, we drew up to the dock at Port Said. 

No account of Egypt would be complete 
without at least a passing notice of that great 
work, the Suez Canal. 

Although tradition says there was originally 
a canal connecting the Red Sea with the 
Mediterranean, built, as pretty much every 
thing else in Egypt was, by Rameses II., we 
are not informed for what purpose the canal 
was constructed, as navigation was not essen- 
tially an Egyptian science. The great Na- 
poleon conceived the project, and caused a 
survey to be made, but he shortly afterwards 



CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 



165 



found other occupation for his time and money 
than building canals. The present scheme 
belongs solely to Ferdinand de Lesseps. The 
work began in 1859, an d on the 17th of No- 
vember, 1869, "this gigantic operation, the 
greatest and most useful that the world has 
ever seen, was duly inaugurated." 

To look at a map of Egypt and see the 
black-and-white lines marked Suez Canal, 
no one can form any idea of the stupendous 
nature of the undertaking, or the almost insur- 
mountable physical obstacles which confronted 
the plucky Frenchman. 

The Khedive had originally agreed to fur- 
nish twenty thousand men in monthly gangs 
for the work, but Ismail Pasha refused, on his 
accession, to sanction this outrageous conscrip- 
tion, and it was impossible to obtain sufficient 
labor in any other way. Then, too, there was 
no water fit to drink anywhere along the pro- 
posed line, and it was therefore necessary to 
construct a fresh-water canal from the Nile, 
and carry water along the banks of the canal 
in pipes. Although there were several lakes 
on the route, they were mostly so shallow that 
they proved rather disadvantageous to the 
work, as a channel constantly filling up had to 



166 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

be dredged through them. On account of the 
great width of the canal in places, it became a 
problem how to dredge out the channel and 
dispose of the sand. Many ingenious machines 
were invented particularly adapted to the work 
in hand, the most remarkable of which was the 
Dragne a long couloir, a ponderous steam 
dredge with a long spout, looking, at a little 
distance, like one section of a cantilever bridge, 
which carried the material raised by the buck- 
ets off, over, and beyond the banks ! 

The inauguration ceremonies were most 
imposing, and the attendant festivities, upon a 
scale of lavish magnificence, unequalled in this 
century at least, costing the Khedive no less 
than $20,000,000 ! 

The canal is 100 miles long, 72 feet wide at 
the bottom ; varies from 1 90 to 3 78 feet in width 
at the top, and is 26 feet deep. Vessels passing 
through, pay nine francs tariff per registered 
ton, which amount must be paid in cash before 
the vessel enters the canal. Speed is limited 
to about five miles an hour, to prevent the 
washing of the banks. As the canal in many 
places is too narrow for large steamers to pass 
each other in safety, stations have been pro- 
vided for this purpose at various points. At 



f 

CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 167 

all the stations from Suez to Port Said the 
company has built most substantial, tasty, and 
picturesque buildings for their employes. 

A most perfect system of signals is in use, 
showing what steamers are in the canal, where 
they are, and whether furnished with electric 
light. If not so lighted, they are forbidden to 
steam at night. The stations are all connected 
by telegraph. Each vessel is furnished with a 
pilot by the company free of charge, who 
is responsible for the safe-conduct of the ship 
while under his command. Of course the sand 
blows in constantly, and a large number of 
steam dredges are continually at work, clear- 
ing the channel, while large gangs of men are 
busy rip-rapping the banks and carrying on 
other works of a permanent character. The 
original cost of the work was about $95,000,- 
000; the shares being 100 francs each. These 
shares are now worth about 500 francs each, 
and as the net receipts of the company are 
growing larger each year, having increased 
from $1,000,000 in 1870 to $15,000,000 in 
1888, there is no reason why this stock should 
not prove a veritable bonanza to the original 
holders. 

I was surprised that I saw no sailing vessels 



168 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



passing through, but was told that the Red 
Sea was not favorable for ships, as the wind 
blows in one direction for six months and then 
in the other for six months more. 

The charges for the use of the canal, which 
seem excessive at first glance, become very 
moderate when we remember that the canal 
saves 3,600 miles between New York and 
Bombay, and 6,000 miles between Marseilles 
and Bombay. 

We expected to find a most undesirable 
place here in the sand at the entrance of the 
canal, but were pleasantly disappointed with 
the clean, well-built, and orderly town of twelve 
thousand people through which we wandered 
during the afternoon. It seemed a little odd 
to have the sidewalk in the middle of the street, 
but we soon got used to that. There are nu- 
merous stores here principally for the sale of 
tobacco, groceries, and liquors, but some very 
excellent and beautiful Chinese and Japanese 
goods may be found, it being a distributing 
point for the entire coast as far as Constanti- 
nople. As all steamers passing through the 
canal, as well as the numerous coastwise lines, 
stop here for from one hour to three days, the 
streets generally present a very animated ap- 



CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 169 

pearance. There are no works of any import- 
ance except the breakwater and light-house ; 
the former built of huge blocks of concrete 
manufactured here of shell, sand, and hydrau- 
lic lime. The light-house is said to be of one 
solid piece (but I don't believe it) 180 feet 
high ; it contains an electric light, flashing 
every three seconds, which can be seen twenty 
miles. 

We visited the magnificent French man-of- 
war Vauban, being kindly shown the vessel in 
all its parts by a gentlemanly young marine. 
She has a gun-deck battery of six steel pieces, 
two torpedo guns, two revolving turrets amid- 
ships, containing one gun each, and two more 
turrets, one forward and one aft ; guns all 
breech-loaders. She also carries six small 
independent torpedoes worked by screws, the 
motive power being compressed air. Each of 
these beautiful little instruments of destruction, 
six feet long and about one foot in diameter, 
cigar-shaped, cost three thousand dollars ! 
This floating citadel, in perfect construction 
for offence and defence, in multiplicity of curi- 
ous and ingenious machinery for use in any 
emergency, and in scrupulous cleanliness, ex- 
ceeded any thing I had ever seen or dreamed 



170 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

of. Our experience with the Austrian Lloyds 
had been so disgusting that we were more than 
half prepared to find some hitch in our arrange- 
ments for the trip to Jaffa. We were not dis- 
appointed. 

We went on board the Achille in time for 
dinner Sunday evening, and here our troubles 
began. The state-room accommodations were 
well enough, but the vessel was crowded almost 
to suffocation. The first cabin, with berths for 
fifty, had to provide for sixty, while the steer- 
age passengers had overflowed their part of the 
ship and taken possession of our promenade 
deck, where they camped under a large canvas 
with all their goods and chattels. There were 
two waiters for sixty people, and as soon as the 
ship got under way it was only a question of 
time how long any one would be able to stay 
at the table before the smells, together with 
the motion of the steamer, would cause all ex* 
cept the very best sailors to seek the seclusion 
which the cabin grants. We were informed 
that, owing to the large amount of freight to 
be taken on, we would be delayed until Mon- 
day afternoon. Sunday had been beautifully 
calm, but the southwest wind blew up Monday, 
increasing during the evening and night, until, 



CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 



171 



when we sighted Jaffa, early Tuesday morning, 
all hopes of being able to land had vanished. 

Jaffa is called by courtesy a seaport, but it 
is n't half so much of a " port " as Long 
Branch, and how Solomon ever managed to 
land a cargo of cedar there for the Temple I 
can scarcely understand, as the passage be- 
tween the reefs is only about ten feet wide, 
and I don't suppose the primitive crafts of 
those days could be steered with sufficient 
accuracy to clear the rocks. The city presents 
a pleasing picture as seen from the Mediter- 
ranean, and I am told it is best seen from 
a distance. 

The place is undoubtedly very ancient, some 
writers claiming that it takes its name from 
Japhet. It seems to have been of great 
importance about the commencement of the 
Christian era, and Josephus says that in the 
last great war with Rome, no less than eighty 
thousand of the inhabitants were killed. After 
this destruction it became a refuge for pirates, 
many of whose descendants remain there to 
this day. Vespasian destroyed it again, but it 
rose to some importance during the Middle 
Ages, being taken and retaken by Christian or 
Infidel as the fortune of either chanced to be 



172 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

in the ascendancy. Again it became desolate 
until the latter part of the last century, and it 
it was here that the terrible tragedy was en- 
acted under Napoleon, when he massacred in 
cold blood four thousand Albanian captives to 
whom he had pledged his honor that their 
lives should be spared. 

It is said that a large number of his own sick 
soldiers were poisoned in the plague hospital 
by his orders, but this lacks credible support- 
ing testimony. The town is celebrated, aside 
from its historical associations, for its narrow, 
dirty streets. 

The locality produces excellent oranges, and 
great quantities of them. 

In a driving rain we steamed slowly past the 
town, and in about six hours anchored off the 
the city of Haifa at the base of Mount Carmel. 
Here a few enthusiasts landed in small boats, 
determined to make the trip to Jaffa, sixty 
miles away, by land. It is on this mount that 
the cave is shown where Elisha is said to have 
taken refuge when Ahab sought his life. Here 
also Elisha stayed when Ahaziah sent two cap- 
tains with their fifties to bring him down, and 
they were themselves destroyed. 

But what interested me more than Carmel 



CAIRO TO BEYROUT. 



173 



was the city of Akka, ancient Acre, situated on 
the upper promontory of the bay, containing 
about ten thousand people. During the times 
of the Crusades it was a famous city, and it 
was here that King Richard the Lion-Hearted 
held the tournament so graphically described 
by the Palmer in " Ivanhoe." And here the 
Knights of St. John, a mere handful in num- 
ber, but the flower of mediaeval chivalry, made 
good the defences of the town against the 
enormous hosts of Sultan Ibn Kalawun. Some 
idea of the size of the city anciently may be 
gained from the statement that sixty thousand 
persons were either killed or sold into slavery 
when the place was finally captured. We 
passed Tyre and Sidon in the night, and early 
Wednesday morning dropped anchor in the 
harbor (?) of Beyrout. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



BEYROUT. 

Disappointed and disgusted as we were, the 
first sight of the magnificent bay and pictu- 
resque buildings of the city, some blue, some 
yellow, restored a little of the enthusiasm 
which had gradually been leaving us from the 
day we set foot on the steamer at Port Said. 
There was a small and unimportant town here 
before the time of Alexander. In the days of 
Augustus some effort was made by the Syrian 
governor to imitate the customs and amuse- 
ments of Rome, but not until about the year 
255, when a law school was established, and 
the silk industry had grown to respectable 
proportions, did Beyrout (then Berytus) be- 
come of any consequence. It was destroyed 
by an earthquake at one time, and no attempt 
was made to rebuild it for many years, but it 
became of some importance in the days of the 
Crusades, and as, for at least two thousand 

174 



BEYROUT. 



175 



years, it has been recognized as the seaport 
for Damascus, it generally rises phoenix-like 
from its ruins. The modern town, containing 
about a hundred thousand people, is gradually, 
as the Turks are being crowded out by the 
Christians, becoming a clean, thriving place, 
and the results of the labors of half a century 
by the American Mission are to be seen on all 
sides. While the British, French, and Ger- 
mans each have educational institutions, to 
the American Presbyterians justly belong the 
palm for intelligent, successful, and fearlessly 
persistent work in Syria ; and any person 
writing from or about this country who ne- 
glects to praise the work of this organization 
is, to say the least, forgetful of the homage due 
to that noble quality in mankind which under- 
goes suffering, privation, and even the peril of 
death, in the prosecution of a great duty. 

We had a sad experience with the custom- 
house officials. As we landed from the small 
boat which took us off the steamer, we were 
met at the stair by an officer who demanded 
our passports. We pushed by this fellow 
only to find ourselves in a yard swarming 
with porters, soldiers, and hungry Turkish 
dignitaries, the latter waiting for a chance to 



176 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

plunder some unfortunate, through the instru- 
mentality of the alleged Turkish custom- 
house regulations. I was so unlucky as to 
have in my trunk a small box of smoking 
tobacco, worth about fifty cents, which I had 
completely forgotten, and on being asked if 
I had any thing dutiable, promptly answered 
" No." The tray was taken out and there, in 
plain sight, was the contraband tobacco, no 
attempt having been made at concealment. 
It was at once pounced upon by the burly 
pirate in attendance, who quivered with de- 
light to the very periphery of his preposterous 
pantaloons. He blustered and stormed about 
breaking the law, shook the box at the in- 
terpreter, and then at me, and hinted darkly 
at the terrors of a dungeon cell. Cook's agent 
listened respectfully, even humbly, and whis- 
pered aside to me backsheesh. But I was 
too infernally mad to heed the words of pru- 
dence, and challenged the robber to do his 
worst. I was immediately fined nine francs 
(he might as well have made it even money), 
and the tobacco confiscated. Unacquainted 
with the customs of the country, I foolishly 
paid the fine, but immediately on being re- 
leased hunted up the American Consul, who 



BEYROUT. 



177 



kindly sent his secretary down to the robber 
chief and compelled him to disgorge a portion 
of his stealings. He told me that the mistake 
I made was in paying at all, as these free- 
booters never return any thing except when 
compelled. 

And now while I am in the proper mood I 
will proceed, calmly and dispassionately, to 
give my views on the subject of this great 
Ottoman Empire as one of the powers of the 
earth. 

Of all the governments that have disgraced 
the globe from the time when the munici- 
palities of Sodom and Gomorrah called down 
the wrath of the Almighty on their heads, to 
the days not long ago when the King of 
Ashantee carved three hundred of his wives 
as a postprandial amusement, the present 
Turkish Government is the most infamous, 
bigoted, and intolerant. In the first place the 
thievish propensities of a Turk are so great 
that, if by any chance an official happens to be 
honest, he immediately brings upon himself 
the anathemas and hostility of all the rest of 
the gang, and the consequence inevitably is 
that he is either removed to some more barren 
fields or incontinently " bounced." 

12 



178 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

They have import duties and export duties ; 
they tax every thing that they think can pay a 
tax, and if by chance they find any thing 
which they have forgotten to put on the duty 
list, they settle the question easily by confisca- 
tion. They have a system of passports which 
amounts simply to placing a person under the 
surveillance of the police, with which this 
country actually swarms. Your passport is 
vised at Beyrout, and you are here informed 
that you must take out a local passport, $1.28 ; 
this is vised at Baalbec, $1, and again at 
Damascus, 80 cents, and in fact you are robbed 
of a dollar or so every time you put your feet 
inside of a town over the citadel of which 
waves the red flag of the crescent and star. 

No idea of the fanaticism of these people 
can be conceived. A friend of mine was 
taking some photographs of street scenes in 
Damascus one day, when suddenly he found 
himself surrounded by soldiers, his plates and 
apparatus seized, and himself marched off to 
the calaboose. The French Consul got him 
out in mighty short order, and in reply to the 
question why he had been arrested was told by 
the subaltern in charge that they did n't under- 
stand what he was doing ! 



BEYROUT. 



179 



A gentleman landing at Jaffa not long ago 
happened to have in his trunk a silver bracelet 
of curious workmanship, which he had pur- 
chased in India. It was so different from any- 
thing a Turk ever made or dreamed of making, 
that the officials, after a solemn conclave, de- 
cided it must be an infernal machine of some 
sort, and so confiscated the trunk and all its 
contents ! 

It was only after a most vigorous protest, 
accompanied by a lavish use of money, that 
the trunk was reclaimed ! 

The mails used to be plundered to such an 
extent that, after the trouble of i860, the Great 
Powers quietly informed the Sublime Porte 
that they each proposed to run a postal depart- 
ment on their own hook at Beyrout ; and so 
we have the strange spectacle here of an Aus- 
trian, English, French, and Russian postal ser- 
vice, each entirely independent of the other, 
and all without the jurisdiction of the Turkish 
Government. 

Beside all this, the Great Powers concluded 
that as long as they had put a finger in the 
Syrian pie, they would regulate matters a little 
on Mount Lebanon, which, properly speaking, 
is a mountain district instead of a mountain. 



180 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



So they notified the Porte that as Mount Leba- 
non was peopled largely by Christians, in order 
to prevent a recurrence of the late misunder- 
standing they would themselves appoint a 
ruler for Lebanon every ten years, and would 
only trouble the Sublime Porte so far as to 
confirm their choice. 

If you attempt to send a telegram out of 
this country, it is ten to one that the operator 
having the office in charge receives your money 
and sends your message — to the waste-paper 
basket, unless you take the precaution to 
demand a receipt. 

But while the Turkish Government does 
not dare to interfere with these people on or 
near the sea-coast, matters are going from bad 
to worse in the interior so far as the Christians 
are concerned. The Turks are cunning, if 
nothing else, and some morning a teacher 
finds his little school closed and the govern- 
ment seal upon the door. Inquiry only de- 
velops some technical breach of the law, inad- 
vertent though it may be, but a school once 
closed is never re-opened. Appealed to, the 
government promises and promises, but never 
performs. In talking with Dr. Bliss, the 
President of the American College, I learned 



BEYROUT. 



181 



much of the fanatical prejudices of these 
people. 

The Doctor came to this country thirty 
years ago, a missionary. He conceived the 
idea of founding a college ; went back to 
America in '62, raised $100,000, and instead 
of attempting to make this amount build a 
$200,000 institution, going in debt for the bal- 
ance, he wisely put the money out at interest, 
visited England under favorable auspices, and 
adroitly using his $100,000 as a lever, raised 
$20,000 more, started his college in a small way, 
spent the $20,000, to tide over until the inter- 
est on his nest-egg grew to respectable pro- 
portions, and then commenced his buildings. 
After no less than fifty fruitless interviews he 
succeeded in buying twenty-five acres, beauti- 
fully located on the bluff overlooking the sea, 
for $6,250 (worth $40,000 now), and here the 
college buildings stand, handsome structures 
of cut stone, practically fire-proof. 

First is the medical building, where are the 
mineral, botanical, and anatomical cabinets, a 
fine collection of birds, and the chemical labo- 
ratory. In the next building, are the recita- 
tion rooms and library downstairs, the chapel 
in an annex on the second floor, and the dor- 



182 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



mitories on that and the two upper floors. In 
the next building, the college mess-rooms, the 
study room for the preparatory department, 
and the rooms for the president and faculty. 
There are about one hundred and ninety stu- 
dents, all Christians. The better class of Mus- 
sulmans would gladly send their sons (for even 
to their befuddled brains are evident the ad- 
vantages of this liberal education), provided 
they could be excused from attendance at re- 
ligious exercises. But, non-sectarian as the 
college is, it is one of the rules admitting of 
no deviation, that all students must attend 
prayers every afternoon at four o'clock, and 
divine service on the Sabbath. Prayers are 
held in Arabic, although most if not all the 
students prosecute certain studies in English, 
and the singing is also in Arabic to our famil- 
iar tunes. The college is managed by a Board 
of Trustees in New York, who select pro- 
fessors and tutors, and pay the salaries. The 
local staff comprises fifteen gentlemen, bright, 
intelligent, and fully alive to the importance 
of the duties in hand. 

Work has lately been commenced on a 
beautiful new chapel, the gift of some gener- 
ous friends in New York. In every depart- 



BEYROUT. 



18J 



ment the institution bears the evidences of 
prosperity. It is a subject for thoughtful con- 
sideration that these people remain here, and 
pursue their labors conscientiously and with 
apparent pleasure, when not one of them 
would stay in this country twenty-four hours, 
if they felt that they could consistently go 
back to America. 

At Dr. Fisher's we had a most delightful 
American dinner, and, shade of the prophet! 
how we did eat ! I shall never forget that 
dinner. We had, among other things, good, 
honest American butter, mashed potatoes, 
corn, roast chicken, fish, baked custard, fruits, 
and genuine tea, to say nothing of sundry 
very nice native dishes. Mrs. Fisher modestly 
called it a "lunch," but if multiplicity of 
tempting viands be taken into consideration, 
then it was a banquet. 

In the afternoon we were shown over the 
college buildings, attended prayers, and then, 
on invitation of President Bliss, we went to 
his house for a few moments while he ex- 
plained to us much of the workings of the 
college. It was a most enjoyable day, and I 
am sure that not least among the good deeds 
of these people has been their cordial recep- 



184 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

tion and entertainment of our band of pilgrims. 
Mrs. Fisher amused us with an account of the 
domestic economy of life in this far-off land. 
The cooks are mostly men ; the range, a num- 
ber of grates side by side set in stone, a sep- 
arate charcoal fire being built on each one ; 
the fumes of the charcoal, as well as the odors 
from the cooking, being carried off by a 
large hood over the range. All provisions are 
bought for cash, and the lady of the house 
never does any marketing, her commissions 
being executed by the cook, who is expected 
to " knock down," in a small way, from the 
cash furnished. These cooks are generally 
efficient, and learn readily. Although fires 
are often needed in January and February, no 
provision is made for them in the construction 
of the houses, and Dr. Fisher informed me 
that not a single house in Beyrout can boast 
of such an adornment as a chimney ! Where 
a fire is used, the stove-pipe runs out through 
a hole in the wall. The houses are large and 
airy, many of the ceilings being twenty to 
twenty-five feet high. All the rooms open 
around a court, and it is a curious feature 
that all the best houses have three monstrous 
windows, which designate the size of the 



BEYROUT. 



185 



court, or the large salon which takes its 
place. 

I forgot to mention the fact that the physi- 
cians connected with the college maintain a 
free hospital and dispensary, which is one of 
the most praiseworthy charities in this country. 



CHAPTER XV. 



THE DRUSES. 

While I do not wish to undertake any 
description of the almost countless factions 
that have at one period or another held sway 
in this historic land, I feel as if I ought to 
make some brief allusion to that curious and 
mysterious sect, the Druses, remarkable for 
the successful manner in which they have 
defied every attempt of the Sublime Porte to 
subdue them, as well as for the pertinacity 
with which they cling to a belief which Dean 
Milman declares to be " one of the most ex- 
traordinary aberrations which ever extensively 
affected the mind of man." 

Occupying chiefly the regions of Lebanon 
and Anti-Libanus with flourishing colonies as 
far south as Tyre and the Sea of Tiberias, 
they form the exclusive population of about 
125 towns and villages, and are found largely 
in nearly 250 more, while numerically they 

186 



THE DRUSES. 



187 



claim 75,000 men, there being no census of 
women and children. 

Of their origin but little is known. Though 
they mostly speak the purest Arabic, they 
preserve a tradition which says that they came 
originally from China, although some authori- 
ties connect them with a certain Count of 
Dreux, who, with his followers, in the days of 
the Crusades, determined to make this their 
home rather than brave the dangers of the 
return trip to France. This of course is con- 
tradicted by other "authorities," and the most 
modern theory is that they date back to about 
the eleventh century to Ismael Darazi. While 
this may be the case, it is highly probable that 
the elements which were finally amalgamated 
into the sect of Druses came from the tribes 
with which Esarhaddon (seventh century) re- 
peopled the country, added to later by the 
people transplanted from the region north of 
the Caspian to this district, by Constantine in 
686 a.d. 

The origin of their religion is remarkable. 
It seems that, about the year 1000, a gentle- 
man was Caliph of Egypt by the name of 
Hakem Biamrillah, Aboo-Alee-Mansoor. His- 
tory says he was crazy, and I have no doubt 



188 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



that his endeavor to remember this name de- 
stroyed his mind. At any rate he thought 
himself to be the human impersonation of the 
Divinity, and this point settled to his own 
satisfaction, he wanted the claim admitted by 
all the dwellers in Cairo. So on a certain day 
he modestly had it announced in the Great 
Mosque at Cairo that he simply was God, and 
as old Bill Jones was not then alive for him to 
prove it by, he called on a party by the name 
of Darazi, his Grand Vizier, to vouch for the 
truth of the claim. 

The new religion was not a success in Cairo. 
The Caireens, ignorant, superstitious, and de- 
graded as they were, could scarcely accept as 
God an individual who for years had made 
himself feared and detested for his numberless 
and nameless cruelties. The Grand Vizier 
had a close call, being set upon by the infu- 
riated mob. He managed, however, to escape 
with his life, but made tracks for Syria, where 
it seems he endeavored to disseminate the new 
religion. He met with indifferent success, and 
it was not until Hamza, a Persian (Hamza- 
ben-Ali-ben-Ahmed, was his court name) be- 
came Grand Vizier, that things looked up in 
religious circles. Well, Hamza was a daisy. 



THE DRUSES. 



189 



He seems to have been an able scamp, utterly- 
devoid of principle, but smart enough to see 
that the contiguity of his head and shoulders 
depended largely on his ability to convince 
his august master Hakem that the new reli- 
gion was fast gaining ground. So he adopted 
in a general way all the agreeable features of 
the then existing beliefs and succeeded in en- 
listing quite a body of followers. The tyrant 
was slain one day by ten of his slaves, at the 
instigation of his own sister, whom he was 
preparing to carve for some fancied insult; 
and Hamza at once gave out that Hakem had 
simply disappeared for a season, but would 
return in triumph " some day." 

Poor Darazi, who all this time had been 
working up a boom for the new religion in 
the rural districts, was pronounced a heretic ; 
but by some strange principle of oriental justice, 
the very sect, who were taught to hold him in 
abhorrence, suffered the new religion, to estab- 
lish which he had become an outcast and a 
wanderer, to bear his name. 

The religion of the Druses is a curious mix- 
ture of the Scriptures, the Koran, and the 
Egyptian allegories. They believe in one God 
who has been revealed in human form ten times, 



190 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

the tenth being Alphabet Hakem, who will 
appear once more, when the troubles of the 
righteous will be most unbearable, and then 
their religion will embrace the whole earth. 
They believe that the number of souls never 
changes ; that all the souls in life now have 
lived from the beginning of the world, and 
will live until the final coming of Hakem. 
After death the souls of the good pass into 
the bodies of Chinese Druses (which would 
render the religion very unpopular on the 
Pacific coast), and although those of the 
wicked may be degraded to the bodies of 
beasts, after the ages of probation are over, 
there will come a day of perfect peace and 
eternal rest. 

Proselytism is forbidden, profound secrecy 
enjoined, and for the maintenance of their 
religion, should it be threatened through any 
political complications, they are allowed to 
outwardly profess any religion occasion may 
require. They have seven fundamental com- 
mandments, as laid down by Hamza: " ist, 
veracity (to each other only) ; 2d, mutual 
protection ; 3d, renunciation of every other 
religion ; 4th, profession of the unity of Hakem 
as God ; 5th, contentment with his work ; 



THE DRUSES. 



191 



6th, complete submission to his will ; 7th, 
complete obedience to his orders. 

Now barring number 4, and bearing in mind 
that the veracity of a good many people is 
subject to certain mental reservations, I don't 
call that a very bad code of morals. They 
abstain from tobacco and wine and other 
luxuries ; they never swear, utter obscene 
language, or lie. There seem to be two 
classes : the one called Ockals or Akals, being 
privileged to a certain degree on account of 
their superior sanctity or ability. But mere 
membership in this class does not confer any 
additional privileges. The Druse religion 
can never successfully be planted in America, 
because the ladies wear " neither gold nor 
silver, nor silk nor brocade." 

The people are particularly distinguished 
for their hospitality, and although many of 
them are very poor, beggary is unknown 
among them. Education receives consider- 
able attention. 

" There was nothing," says Lord Carnarvon, 
" which surprised me more than the self-pos- 
session, the delicate appreciation of the wishes 
and feelings, the social ease, and to a great 
extent the refinement which distinguished the 



192 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

conversation and manners amongst the Druse 
chiefs whom I met, and on whom no drawing- 
room of London or Paris could have conferred 
an additional polish." 

I will not go into the contests between the 
Druses and Maronites, which, commencing 
about 1840, culminated in the terrible massa- 
cre of Christians at Damascus in i860. Nu- 
merous atrocities were perpetrated on both 
sides, and, from all I can learn, the Maronites 
were about as bad as the Druses. 

The Maronites, while retaining some pe- 
culiar rites and customs, are essentially Roman 
Catholics, and have nothing specially inter- 
esting in their history. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC— BAALBEC. 

From Beyrout to Damascus there extends 
one of the finest macadamized roads in the 
world, seventy miles long. It was built by a 
French company, and is maintained in the 
most perfect manner. Of course it is a toll 
road, and of course the tolls are heavy, $24 
for a three-horse carriage over and back. The 
company also operates a stage line, and the sys- 
tem is most admirable. There are two stages 
daily, one leaving at 4:30 a.m., carrying three 
first-class passengers inside and nine second- 
class — six inside and three outside. There are 
two drivers, who change off. The " off" fel- 
low sits on the end of the seat behind the 
driver (who has a seat alone) and manipulates 
the brake, which works with a crank and rope, 
and closes onto the hind wheels from the back. 
The night stage, which transports the mail, is 
a small affair, carrying few people. The mules, 
13 193 



194 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. . 

or horses, six in number, are harnessed three 
abreast, the middle wheeler is harnessed into 
a pair of standing shafts, and the general rig 
is about the same as ours. The horses are 
changed once an hour ; a regular schedule is 
maintained throughout the entire distance. 
The horses and mules are fat and well cared 
for ; the discipline of the employes reminds 
one more of military rule than any thing else. 
In addition to the stage line, the company 
operates a freight line, sending out a train of 
from ten to fifteen wagons, both from Damas- 
cus and Beyrout, every day. Each train is 
under the charge of a train-master, and must 
make only a certain distance within a certain 
time. All the stations are substantial stone 
buildings, and as there are many of them 
along the road, there is no need of crowding 
the freight teams to make stopping-places for 
the night. Nothing is used for repairs on the 
road except broken stone, rolled into place 
with ponderous iron rollers, drawn by twelve 
mules. 

We started at 4:30 on Friday morning, 
climbed the slope of Lebanon in the moon- 
light, and ere we reached the summit saw the 
sun rise over the snow-clad peaks. Turning 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



195 



about we beheld a most magnificent picture 
spread out at our very feet. The cultivated 
slopes of the mountain side, with many vil- 
lages clinging to the rugged rocks ; along the 
sea-coast, the gardens and white roofs of Bey- 
rout, and beyond, as far as the eye could 
reach, the blue waters of the Mediterranean. 
We can always admire the Mediterranean 
when at a safe distance from it on land. The 
picture was charming to us ; how entrancing a 
similar one must have been to the weary wan- 
dering ten thousand as they crossed the moun- 
tain summit, and in a delirium of joy shouted, 
" OoikaGGa f OaXaaaa / " 

What would our shiftless Dakota farmers 
say, who live in a country where the black 
loam is from one to three feet deep, to follow- 
ing agriculture in a land where soil is so scarce 
that they pick it out from among the rocks by 
the handful, and carry it in baskets to some 
little level ledge on the mountain side, and 
there make a vineyard about as big as a good- 
sized blanket ! We saw hundreds of such 
little spots, mostly used for grape-vines. We 
met mule trains and camel trains, some bring- 
ing flour from the mills of Baalbec, some 
loaded with miscellaneous freight from the far 



196 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



East. At the first stopping-place we secured 
a supply of cigarettes, which we lavished upon 
the drivers with gratifying results. At the 
next stop we had some genuine Turkish coffee 
(very black, muddy, and bad), but it was hot, 
and we enjoyed it. About this time " the sun 
shot up from the bourne." I don't know what 
the " bourne " is, but that 's what the sun did, 
and we were mighty glad to see his smiling 
face again, the morning being excessively 
chilly. 

The drivers were big, burly fellows, having 
on clothes enough to stock an ordinary Jew 
shop. High-top boots; pants; about three 
coats and overcoats ; woollen mittens of about 
five thicknesses of yarn ; and the head-gear of 
Syria, consisting of a white shawl completely 
enveloping the head except the face, twisted 
around and around the neck, a black cord 
about as large as an inch rope passing twice 
around the head, completed the rig. It was a 
curious sight to see the brakeman, perched up 
in his corner, commencing at the back end of 
the spelling-book and, with the aid of a pair of 
American eye-glasses, laboriously reading aloud 
some story or other, which was thoroughly and 
earnestly discussed by the driver and himself 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



197 



as they went along. While their knowledge 
of English was as limited as our acquaintance 
with Arabic, we met on the plane of very bad 
French, and thus carried on a conversation, in 
the course of which we learned considerable 
regarding the country. Every thing went 
smoothly until the driver asked if Squire D. 
was n't my father, after which a certain air of 
formality made its appearance. Up, up, up 
wound the road until we found ourselves 
travelling through the snow, eight thousand 
feet, nearly, above the sea, which seemed to lie 
almost at our feet. At length, about ten 
o'clock, we saw rising before us the mountains 
of Anti-Libanus, with snow-capped Hermon in 
the background, and knew that we must be 
nearing the valley of Lebanon — and breakfast. 
The descent on this side of the mountain is in 
a zig-zag, back and forth, and while the grade 
is maintained, of course, the road seems to 
hang over the valley all the way down. 
Nothing can be more charming than the sight 
of this beautiful fertile valley as the galloping 
horses bring you nearer and nearer to it. We 
were perhaps a little too early to see it at its 
best, the vines and mulberry-trees not being in 
leaf ; but the grain was growing green, and the 



198 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



many silvery streams showing here and there 
told of the possible beauties of the valley in 
this country, where only water is needed to 
convert the desert into a garden. 

When we rattled up to the station at Shtora 
at precisely eleven o'clock, after our six and 
one half hours' ride, the stage having arrived 
from Damascus about one minute before us, 
we were ravenously hungry. The little inn 
was clean and comfortable,, and we had an ex- 
cellent breakfast. Then, through bribery and 
corruption, having secured the best of all the 
conveyances, we started for Baalbec at 12.45. 
The road, thirty miles long, while not as good 
as the Damascus road, is good enough for 
any people and any country. The valley, 
widest at Shtora, gradually narrows till, at 
Baalbec, fertility ends and the desert begins. 
Every inch of it is cultivated ; grain, mulberries, 
and grapes being the principal products. The 
density of the population may be compre- 
hended from the fact that between Shtora and 
Baalbec we counted no less than twenty-four 
villages and one city, the latter containing 
eighteen thousand inhabitants. 

We changed horses but once on the way, 
buying at the station some fair coffee, at a 



\ 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



199 



most exorbitant price, more through fear of 
the brigand who tendered it than from any 
desire we had for the muddy beverage. We 
reached the Hotel Palmyra at 4.30, and there, 
directly in front of us, were the famous ruins, 
concerning whose history there has been so 
much controversy among the savants of all 
ages. 

I always had an idea, based on Mark 
Twain's pictures in " Innocents Abroad," that 
Baalbec was situated in the midst of a desert 
Nothing can be further from the truth. 

The beautiful spring of Ras-el-ain bubbles 
up in a little ravine on the outskirts of the 
present town (which, by the way, contains 
about five thousand people), and its waters 
are carried down in a stone-walled raceway, 
along a beautiful avenue of willows about a 
mile in length, to the walls of the ruins. 

And coming down this avenue I saw a most 
curious sight. 

First were three huge camels gayly decked 
with silk shawls and scarfs of brilliant colors 
hanging down to the ground, completely en- 
veloping the animals save their heads. On 
each camel rode two young girls, dressed in 
their " very best," singing some kind of a 



200 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

song, and waving handkerchiefs by way of 
refrain. 

Following them came an irregular procession 
of women and girls all joining in the chorus. 

On inquiry I found it to be one section of a 
wedding procession escorting the bride to 
church, where the groom and his male friends 
would meet her. It was a pretty sight, and 
most appropriate it seemed to me thus con- 
ducting the bride with festive songs to the 
ceremony, without the conventional adjuncts 
of bogus orange-blossoms, long trains, and a 
dozen sad-looking ushers and groomsmen in 
sombre claw-hammer coats. 

The stream referred to waters the plain of 
Baalbec, and instead of the locality of the 
ruins being a desert, as a matter of fact it is a 
garden surrounded by orchards and cultivated 
fields, while the beautiful spring water bab- 
bling along beneath the wall skirts the entire 
length of the northern foundations, unchanged, 
yet ever changing, telling to-day the same 
story it has told for countless centuries. 

I cannot describe the ruins of Baalbec, be- 
cause, in the first place, my native modesty 
forbids my attempting that which has baffled 
so many able writers, and after reading the 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



201 



wise, but highly improbable, nay, impossible, 
accounts as given by the guide-books, I am 
more than ever convinced that the origin of 
the temples is to-day as profound a mystery 
as it was two thousand years ago. 

From an inscription on the north wall it 
seems that Antoninus Pius has some claim to 
having built a portion at least of one of the 
temples. The inscription is as follows : 

" To the great gods of Heliopolis for the 
safety of the Lord Antoninus Pius Aug. and of 
Julia Aug. the mother of our lord of the 
castra (and) senate, a devoted (subject of the 
sovereigns) caused the capitals of the columns 
of Antoninus while in the air (to be) embossed 
with gold at her own expense." 

This will do very well for the more recent 
superstructure, but cannot possibly apply to 
the substruction, or any portion of it. Even 
the most casual observer must be struck with 
the outlying wall on the north side, extending 
almost the entire length of that portion of the 
building. It is composed of a foundation of 
very large stones, possibly ten feet long and 
six feet square, on the top of which rest nine 
stones, each thirty-one feet long and ten feet 
square. 



202 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



The wall is about fifteen feet from the main 
structure, and is in no way connected with it, 
except at the two ends. There is not the 
slightest evidence about the wall itself that it 
was ever continued upward above this tier of 
masonry, nor does any writer speak of it as 
ever having been a portion of the main build- 
ing. Following this wall around to the south- 
west corner, however, we find the same tier of 
massive stones, seven in number, continued 
around the west side for a distance of over 
two hundred feet, and upon these are laid the 
three "cyclopean " stones, so called, measuring 
respectively 64, 63^, and 62 feet in length and 
13 feet square ! 

The three great stones do not extend all the 
way to the northwest corner, but the last 
twelve or fourteen feet at the end is built up 
of smaller stones, which space is just large 
enough to admit of the unfinished stone in the 
quarry, seventy-one feet long, being placed at 
right angles to the other, the end flush with 
the outer face of the other three, thus con- 
tinuing the tier of great stones around on the 
giant substruction. 

The evidence is conclusive to my mind that 
the origin of the temple far antedates any 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



203 



event of recorded history, in the dim past of 
a mythological age, when this portion of the 
world was peopled with a race highly civilized 
and acquainted with mechanical appliances in 
comparison with which all modern inventions 
for moving great weights, even with the ad- 
vantages of steam-power and hydraulic presses, 
must be but clumsy substitutes ; a race, not a 
vestige of whose history or identity remains, 
and concerning whom all theories and specu- 
lations are shadowy, vague, and unsatisfactory. 
It is equally conclusive that the substruction 
on the north and west was the foundation of 
a mighty edifice, the like of which the world 
has never seen ; that it was the intention of 
these builders to construct the main walls 
entirely of these stupendous blocks, for the 
ability to raise the three now in situ to a height 
twenty feet above the level of the plain, after 
transporting them a distance of a mile from 
the quarry, presupposes the ability to raise 
them with equal ease to any required height ; 
that but one corner of the foundation was fin- 
ished, the three giant stones placed in the 
wall with a cunning: skill that renders it 
almost impossible even at this day to discover 
where they are joined ; that the fourth stone, 



204 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



longer than any of the others was all quarried 
and squared ready to be detached, when, for 
some reason which will remain an inscrutable 
secret for all time, the work ceased abruptly, 
and the cyclopean builders laid down their 
unknown tools, abandoned their mysterious 
machines, and vanished from the face of the 
earth, leaving behind them a problem which, 
having defied the wisdom of thousands of 
years, will remain unsolved till that great day 
when the sea gives up its dead. 

Centuries roll by. Rameses the Great with 
his horde of skilful workmen has slept the 
sleep of ages, the civilization of his era almost 
forgotten. And now comes a new race of 
people from far-away Latium. 

Their arms have conquered the most remote 
provinces, and, seeking new worlds, they pass 
the mountain range of Lebanon, and here at 
Baalbec find an earthly paradise, where are the 
remains of an ancient city, how old, they can- 
not tell, save that one of the nations tributary 
to them has preserved a tradition that a 
mighty city existed here centuries ago in the 
days of their great ruler Joshua. They view 
with awe the mighty foundations speaking of 
skilful workmanship unknown to them, but 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



205 



with arrogance which had ever characterized 
them, determining here to raise a temple, 
they placed their structure, fashioned not with 
Roman hands, unacquainted with aught save 
sword and buckler, but by the cunning fingers 
of captive Athens, upon the stately founda- 
tion of a race forgotten, and claimed for them- 
selves the credit of it all ! 

But not plainer than the handwriting on 
the wall to terror-stricken Belshazzar is the 
story told by these cyclopean rocks to every 
thoughtful mind from the days of Antoninus 
Pius, of a skill which Roman civilization nei- 
ther knew nor could imitate. It would seem 
as if the spirit of by-gone ages, hovering over 
these massive foundations, must have inspired 
the craftsmen of the Roman Emperor with 
the loftiest ambition to raise here a super- 
structure which should be worthy of the plat- 
form on which it rested. Certain it is, if one 
may judge from the crumbling ruins of these 
temples, that no other structures so exquisitely 
beautiful ever enchanted the human eye, and 
filled the brain with a picture, the memory of 
which would end alone with life. 

The site chosen with the rarest good judg- 
ment : before and behind, lofty mountains ; 



206 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



on the one side, the desert, barren and forbid- 
ding ; on the other, extending to the base of 
Hermon, a valley, fertile, beautiful, enchant- 
ing ; around the walls, on all sides, sparkling 
waters, countless flowers, gardens, and the 
rustling leaves of many graceful trees. 

The yellow stones of column and pilaster, 
like molten gold ; the delicate tracery on 
frieze and capital so intricate that the brain 
wearies as the eye vainly attempts to follow 
the bewildering beauties there outlined. 

Perhaps because there are no beggars to 
dog your every step ; perhaps because the 
vendors of bogus antiquities do not infest this 
charmed spot ; perhaps because no unsightly 
huts encroach upon the confines of the moat 
with which, in the middle ages, the Turks 
surrounded the buildings : be the cause what 
it may, these ruins were to me more fasci- 
natingly interesting than any I had thus far 
seen. 

" Spring casts the garland of perpetual 
youth over this thrice dead past — a smiling 
irony ; camels and sheep graze on the grass 
which grows over columns and capitals." 

" Picture the white chain of Libanus looking 
down on this overthrown city, embrace in one 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 



207 



comprehensive glance of thought all the con- 
trasts blended here, and the thrilling effect of 
such a scene will be understood." 

" Erect again several columns that have 
fallen, return to their places on the peristyle a 
few exquisitely carved panels, elevate into its 
original position the sunken lintel, reconstruct 
the altar from its scattered fragments, and then 
invoke the sun-god Baal to bring back his 
priests and votaries, and they would not be 
aware of the ages of desolation through which 
the fane had passed, but would almost recog- 
nize it as entire, as perfect, as resplendent as 
when, centuries ago, it dazed the admiring 
throngs of worshippers gathered here to won- 
der and to pray." 

I may be over-enthusiastic regarding the 
ruins of Baalbec, but I am not without dis- 
tinguished authorities with which to fortify 
my opinion. 

John Malala, of Antioch, writing in the 7th 
century, says the great temple of Jupiter "was 
one of the wonders of the world." 

Lamertine says : "I have seen nothing in 
Italy that surpassed it (the Great Temple) ; 
indeed I may say nothing that equals it." 

And Lord Lindsay, in his enthusiasm, ex- 



208 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



claims : "I have no words to express their 
beauty." 

A recent writer, falling into the excusable 
error so common to modern divines, argues at 
length to prove that Solomon founded the 
ancient city ; from the fancied similarity be- 
tween some of the stones and those beneath 
the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, supposed 
to belong to the great temple. 

But Joshua mentions the existence of the 
city five hundred years before Solomon's time, 
and, in fact, the tradition ascribing its founda- 
tion to the wise king is wholly unsupported by 
historical data. 

It probably was never a city of very great 
extent, although it seems to have had some 
strategetic importance during the Middle Ages, 
when the Acropolis was turned into a fortress, 
which, from its great height and the stu- 
pendous nature of the material used in its 
construction, must have been wellnigh im- 
pregnable. 

The present appearance of the walls, in 
many places near a hundred feet in height, 
does much to preserve the general outline of 
the Acropolis, although the stones were piled 
one upon another for the purpose of additional 



BEYROUT TO BAALBEC. 209 

security to the garrison ; capitals, bases, and 
other portions of the columns and architraves 
being laid up in the wall in the wildest con- 
fusion. 

" Three eras speak these ruined piles : 
The first in doubt concealed ; 
The second, when amid thy files 

The Roman clarion pealed ; 
The third, when Saracenic powers 
Raised high the CalifFs massy towers. 

" But ah ! thy walls, thy giant walls ! 

Who laid them in the sand ? 
Belief turns pale, and fancy falls 

Before a work so grand : 
And well might heathen seers declare 
That fallen angels labored there." 

That fanatical Christian vandal, Theodosius, 
destroyed the magnificent Temple of the Sun 
certainly, and the Temple of Jupiter probably ; 
and it is said that here he erected a Christian 
basilica which modern enthusiasts of a re- 
ligious turn of mind search for with great per- 
sistency and very small success. I am glad 
that my Christianity was not subjected to the 
strain which it must have endured had the 
basilica been indicated as an excuse for the 
unpardonable, injudicious, and unnecessary 
act of barbarism on the part of the most holy 

emperor. 
14 



210 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



History records several earthquakes which 
did vast damage to Baalbec, notably the one 
in 1759, but these wrought small destruction 
in comparison to the cruel devastation accom- 
plished by the "zeal of the early Christians." 

I walked down to the quarries about sunset 
and carefully examined the abandoned works. 

In the lower quarry, close to the great 
stone, are two other giant stones partly quar- 
ried and standing on end, which I roughly 
estimated to be 5 x 9 x 20 and 5 x 10x20 feet. 
In another place were seven stones all squared 
and finished ready for removal, about 3x4 
feet, and varying in length up to ten feet. 

Still further up on the hill-side were many 
stones, twenty in one place, all shaped, but 
not detached. 

The cuttings between them, as was the case 
with the two upright stones in the quarry be- 
low, were generally about fifteen inches wide, 
and while they would admit of a man with 
chisel and mallet working, the position would 
necessarily be very cramped. Possibly these 
cyclopean builders used huge saws for this 
work. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE MILLS OF BAALBEC.— BAALBEC TO 
DAMASCUS. 

Before leaving Minneapolis I had prom- 
ised my friend E., the genial editor of the 
Northwestern Miller, to send him some ac- 
count of the flouring mills of Baalbec. 

My desire to disseminate information on 
this topic must serve as an excuse for here 
inserting the letter : 

" Editor 'Northwestern Miller': 

" I believe that, in an unguarded moment, 
I promised to send some milling items for 
publication, but, until to-day, when I took a 
stroll through the mills of this important 
manufacturing centre, I have seen nothing 
that would pass muster as such. 

" The mills of Baalbec use now, as they 
did in the days when Antoninus Pius built 
(?) the great Temple of the Sun, water-power 

211 



212 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

exclusively, although the proprietor of the 
G mill told me, in the course of a friendly 
chat I had with him in the carpenter-shop 
to-day, where he was superintending the 
construction of a new water-wheel, that he 
should put in steam another year if he could 
make satisfactory arrangements for a supply 
of cedar fuel from Lebanon. 

" The source of the water-power here is the 
beautiful spring of Ras-el-Ain, which made 
the ancient city of Baalbec possible, and which 
to-day renders the valley of Lebanon so fa- 
mously fertile. It bubbles up near the modern 
town, and from it the Water-Power Company 
has built a very creditable stone canal, about 
fifteen inches deep and seven feet wide. As 
no two mills take the water from the same 
point in the canal, there is no conflict be- 
tween mill-owners as to a division of water. 
Indeed, I was informed by Mohammed Achmed 
Brownjohn, the gentlemanly secretary of the 
company, that no conflict on this point was 
possible, as each lease entitled the owner to 
all the water passing through the canal. 

" The flour market being extremely dull, and 
competition having been quite sharp, all the 
mills, nine in number, are now in a trust ; con- 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



213 



sequently the A, B, half of E, and the F mills 
only were running. (I use these letters of 
designation arbitrarily, as your readers would 
not be able to decipher the Arabic names 
were I to give them.) The mills are all built 
on the same general plan, so I will weary you 
with a description of but one, the E, which is 
about double the size of any mill I have seen in 
Syria. The building is a massive stone struct- 
ure, about 18x24 feet, one story high, and 
apparently fire-proof. I could see no danger 
of a conflagration (the Board rate, by the 
way, being 91, while the Mutuals write it for 
one per cent.), unless possibly the main shaft 
should take fire and spread to the donkey- 
forage, which is stored in the stable adjoining 
the grinding-floor. The two sides of the mill 
are run by separate wheels, and, under the 
pool arrangement, the whole mill should have 
been in operation, but they had burned out a 
step on the east side, and just as I reached 
the mill the proprietor was loading the dis- 
abled machinery on a donkey to send it down 
to the carpenter-shop for repairs. A super- 
ficial observer, in a recent article on the 
' Mills of Syria,' says : ' The wheels used in 
these mills are the cast-off hind-wheels of the 



214 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

Beyrout and Damascus diligence line, the 
tires and felloes being knocked off and the 
spokes sharpened a little on the edges.' This 
is an error, for while the apparent similarity 
might deceive the careless observer, the fact is 
that the diligence wheels can only be moved 
by six able-bodied mules, and it will there- 
fore readily be admitted that the mills of 
Baalbec, with a minimum head of only four 
feet, could not possibly use them. 

" As the trust claims the best results to be 
obtained from stones, the supply of which 
from the neighboring columns of the Temple 
of Jupiter is practically unlimited, the use of 
rolls has never been encouraged, and I have 
seen none in this country, even on the hotel 
tables. Much, also, of the useless machinery, 
which so cumbers up the modern mills of 
America, is here entirely dispensed with, and 
we see milling in its Oriental simplicity and 
mediaeval purity. The nether millstone is se- 
curely fastened to a stone pier directly over the 
water-wheel. The main shaft, which forms the 
hub of the wheel, is extended upward through 
the lower stone, securely fastened to the upper 
stone ; the water is turned on and, presto ! the 
mill is in operation ! The hopper is directly 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



215 



over the shaft, and the grain feeds to the burrs 
through small openings in the end of the shaft. 
No fooling here with dust-collectors, middlings- 
purifiers, bolting-cloths, and smut-machines. 
Even the expense of a head packer and seven- 
teen assistants is done away with. The cen- 
trifugal force of the moving stone throws the 
flour off on the floor, and there you are. Nor 
are they obliged to maintain an expensive 
fellow to 'bake' and see if the different 
grades are up to standard, for they only make 
one grade — ' Jerusalem XXXX Sour.' 

" ' But,' it may be asked, ' is there no need 
of some oversight other than that of a high- 
priced head-miller to see that the reputation 
of this celebrated brand is maintained ? ' I 
informed myself carefully on this point, and 
find that the only thing the trust fears is that 
possibly the flour may bake sweet ; but as such 
a result has not been obtained in a Baalbec 
bakery since the day, four thousand years ago, 
when Phoenicians placed the giant stones in 
the substructure of the great temple, this fear 
may safely be deemed visionary. 

" The mills do a great deal of custom work, 
and, the Arabs being of a social nature, it was 
a pleasant sight to one accustomed to the 



216 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

freezing politeness of American miller princes 
to see the alacrity with which the proprietor 
sat down on the floor with a customer to enjoy 
a friendly game of Syrian seven-up, while the 
merry mill converted the half bushel of wheat 
or corn (they grind each with equal facility) 
into finest flour. And the benignity with 
which the other donkey and I looked upon 
the scene from the other side of the stable 
partition — for, to tell the truth, we both were 
a little afraid of getting in the way of the 
machinery — completed the picture of perfect 
restfulness which will long dwell in my mem- 
ory. I stupidly forgot to inquire of M. A. 
Brownjohn the daily capacity of the mills, but 
I imagine it to be about fifteen barrels. Run- 
ning only half time, this is proportionately 
decreased. 

" Enthusiastic, and justly so, as every intelli- 
gent person must be who visits this land of 
wonders, I trust I have not painted the picture 
in colors too rosy. Lest any one should be 
induced by this article to abandon the un- 
profitable milling of the Northwest, and seek 
new opportunities in this, the far East, I would 
say, consider well before you change. These 
people know nothing of - futures,' still less of 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



217 



1 corners,' and never heard of an ' option.' 
As your time is chiefly devoted to the careful 
consideration of these things, you would find 
milling in Syria tame, featureless, futureless." 

We saw something of Arabic life in Baalbec 
(at least the ladies did), being requested by a 
native, who expects shortly to emigrate to 
America, to visit his home. 

Apparently there was no scheme in the 
"bid," as the Syrian was not "in trade," but 
after partaking of the usual cup of coffee and 
some sweetmeats, and seeing one of the young 
ladies array herself in all her Oriental finery, 
some wretched little watch-cases made their 
appearance. The narrative of our ladies from 
this point is a little confused, but it seems that 
before they actually knew what had happened 
they had parted with an equivalent of two 
great big American dollars each, for trinkets 
that in the hotel were sold for exactly that 
number of francs ! 

The method of baking bread is somewhat 
different from ours, but not so very "primitive" 
after all. They call the oven, shaped about 
like ours, a "tannur." It is made of clay, 
sometimes built in the ground, sometimes 



218 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

above it, and lined with cement. It is cone- 
shaped, about three feet deep, and nearly as 
wide as that at the bottom, I should say. A 
fire is built inside, and when the oven is 
thoroughly heated the baking begins. 

We saw a good-looking Syrian woman take 
a chunk of dough in her hands and pat it 
rapidly until she flattened it out to the size of 
a coffee-saucer; then she laid it on a hard 
round cushion and hammered it with the palm 
of one hand until it was about an eighth of an 
inch thick and as big as a dinner-plate. Taking 
it on her open right hand, she reached in 
through the top of the tannur and slapped it 
up against the side, where it remained for a 
few moments and was then taken out, "bread"; 
very thin, very tough, and generally rather 
brown. In Damascus the bakers, when mak- 
ing the loaf, continually strike it across the 
bare forearm, thus giving it shape and thin- 
ness. When eaten hot, the " markuk," as it is 
called, is by no means bad, but after keeping 
for a few days it becomes so tough that they 
use it to make sandals*of, I am told. This, I 
fear, is an Oriental fiction. 

The local guide, an Arab about twenty 
years old (he had no part in the watch-case 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



219 



episode ; that being a daring assertion of our 
own independence) is the most intelligent 
fellow of his kind we met abroad. 

He has learned to speak French fluently, 
has studied the ruins systematically and care- 
fully, and has written a book in Arabic on the 
subject, which is now being translated into 
French. 

He was very modest in all his statements, 
but after he has had a little longer career as an 
author he will doubtless assert himself with all 
the arrogance of the genus. 

Regretfully we turned our backs upon Baal- 
bec early the next morning, taking our last 
look at the exquisite ruins by the shimmer- 
ing light of the moon. 

Baalbec ! City of mystery, of wonders un- 
revealed, fruitful in speculations and theories, 
in despairing efforts to solve a riddle more 
obscure than the famed riddle of the sphynx. 
Time has not and time will not bring forth for 
thee another ^Edipus. The diamond of the 
desert, more beautiful in thy ruins than the 
marvellous cathedral of Milan in all its per- 
fected glory ; more stately in thy desolation 
than the wondrous temple of Esneh or Aby- 
dos; and yet thy ruins and desolation have 



220 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

nothing of the depressing gloom of Psestum 
or the Forum Romanum. As the Egyptian sky, 
glowing with the marvellous light of the set- 
ting sun, leaves on the mind naught of regret 
that another day has been taken from life and 
added to the countless centuries which have 
preceded it, so thy ruins, incomparable even 
in their desolation, satisfy the soul as naught 
else can. 

The tale of human sorrows would indeed be 
full if we knew that we should look upon thy 
glories never more. 

We reached Shtora at 10:15 and imme- 
diately proceeded to destroy every vestige of 
the breakfast, which we accomplished in about 
twenty-five minutes, and then sauntered out 
into the sunlight to await the arrival of the 
rest of our party. 

At 11:15 their coming was announced by a 
distant murmuring which, growing louder and 
louder as the carriages approached, had in- 
creased to a cyclopean roar as the party 
alighted. 

Holding firmly to my hat with one hand, lest 
the whirlwind of indignation with which the 
atmosphere seemed to be charged should 
carry it off to the top of some distant moun- 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



221 



tain peak, I approached Lew's carriage, where 
the tumult seemed to be greatest, and mildly 
inquired the cause of the commotion. Madame 
was just completing a few scattered remarks 
of which I caught the following : " Talk of 
punishment after death ; if we have n't had 
our share for the past four hours, I am mis- 
taken." A look at the vehicle from which she 
had alighted was all the explanation I needed. 
Their comfortable carriage of yesterday had 
been metamorphosed into a wretched go-cart, 
having two longitudinal seats behind the 
driver, each about three inches wide, and on 
these shelves, with no opportunity to brace 
crosswise even, the two female feather-weights, 
who jointly tipped the beam at four hundred 
pounds, had been obliged to ride a distance of 
thirty miles ! It seemed that the dragoman 
belonging to a gentleman named T. had cun- 
ningly substituted this melancholy old ruin for 
Lew's good carriage while our lazy guide slept 
(he might as well have slept all the time so far 
as being of any possible assistance to us was 
concerned), and the trick was not discovered 
until T. was well on the way to Shtora. 

T. was a genial chap from Newport, trave - 
ling with his daughter, a rather pretty girl. 



222 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

We had met him at several places and were 
striking up quite a pleasant acquaintance when 
this untoward incident caused, if not a feeling 
of actual warfare, at least a sentiment of 
armed neutrality. T. evidently believed that 
''he who fights and runs away," etc., for the 
surprising agility with which he bundled the 
pretty daughter into his carriage, hopped in 
himself and started off for Damascus, seemed 
to render the conclusion warranted that he 
feared a good cuffing from our enraged Ama- 
zons. And he richly deserved it. It was 
amusing to see the deprecating manner he 
assumed when we afterwards met him at 
Damascus and Smyrna ; and I doubt not that 
it was only his meekness which saved his life. 

The valley of Lebanon, " Bekaa " (cleft), 
down which we had travelled from Baalbec, 
we now crossed, ascended the range of Anti- 
Libanus, travelled through and over a most 
uninteresting country with nothing worthy of 
note to be seen save some gigantic cliffs on 
the south side of the road, for about twenty- 
eight miles, when we suddenly entered the 
valley of the Barada, extremely narrow, but 
supporting the most luxuriant orchards and 
gardens, extending to the city of Damascus 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



223 



itself ; for the modern Barada is the famous 
Abana of history. 

Although the ride during the last hour or so 
is interesting on account of the grateful change 
from the barren mountain sides to the fertile 
valley, and although the sight of this beautiful 
tumbling torrent is a constant joy in this land 
of few waters, yet the approach to the city of 
Damascus is not as impressive as I had antici- 
pated, because I had an idea that the approach 
was from the mountains on all sides except the 
east. Then, too, the famous " gardens " of 
Damascus are not " winter gardens " ; and this 
day in March there was no sign of verdure 
save where the buds of the apricot trees were 
beginning to burst, and the velvety carpeting 
of grain showed green here and there. The 
gardens are surrounded with high stone or 
mud walls, which effectually prevent the trav- 
eller seeing what is within. 

But the ride in comfort over the magnifi- 
cent highway, the sight of the river as we ap- 
proached nearer to the city, confined within a 
narrow channel by walls of white masonry, 
spanned here and there by picturesque stone 
bridges ; the crowds of people, all apparently 
busy, and, above all, the fact that we were 



224 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

really in Damascus, effectually drove away 
even the remotest sentiment of disappoint- 
ment. 

On the right we first saw the great mosque 
of Tekkeyeh, which was formerly a richly en- 
dowed monastery of dervishes. It comprises 
a fine mosque with graceful domes and mina- 
rets facing an extensive court abounding in 
trees and verdure, around which is a vast colon- 
nade with many apartments, each surmounted 
with a small dome, — a most interesting struct- 
ure. It is now in perfect repair, because some 
years ago the government was going to take it 
as a barracks, it being then greatly neglected 
by the greedy dervishes, who were stealing 
the annual proceeds of the endowment and 
expending the same in a few little friendly ex- 
cursions to Beyrout, the Oshkosh of Damascus. 

The dervishes, however, hearing of the pro- 
posed confiscation, generously decided to check 
their thieving propensities for the time being, 
and restored the mosque on the scale of its 
founder, Sultan Selim (1615), who had en- 
dowed it for the purpose of affording rest and 
shelter to houseless pilgrims. 

In a few moments more we alighted at the 
stage office and experienced the novel sensa- 



BAALBEC TO DAMASCUS. 



225 



tion of being in the oldest city of the world, 
eight thousand miles from home and five hun- 
dred miles from a railroad ! 

We scarcely expected to find aught but 
what was Oriental, although the sight of some 
venerable landaus shook our faith a little. 
But we did not expect to be received in a 
modern hotel by a European, speaking almost 
as good English as any of us, who assured us 
that dinner would be ready in a few minutes. 

I am going some day to pack my grip-sack 
and start for the wilds of Terra del Fuego. 
If there, when I land, I am met by a runner 
offering in tolerable English to conduct me 
to the New Hotel of the South Pole, I shall 
give up in despair all further attempts to get 
beyond the reach of modern enterprise and 
civilization. 

We did ample justice to the excellent dinner 

of mine host, Pietro Paulichovich, of the 

Hotel Victoria, warmed our hands over the 

brazier in the parlor, while our young lady 

played " La Paloma" on a very good piano, 

and then tired and happy, sought our couches 

rendered inviting with their snowy linen, hair 

mattresses, and patent springs. 
15 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
DAMASCUS. 

Monday morning, after a most refreshing 
sleep, we awoke at early daybreak and looked 
out on the busy scene, having discovered that 
the people of Damascus have one custom in 
common with the merry roosters of America, 
— they commence to crow very early. Long 
before daylight the street venders were out in 
force crying their wares, although some of the 
disturbance was caused, as we afterwards 
learned, by the gentlemen from the minarets 
calling the faithful to prayer. 

Breakfast consisted of coffee, bread, eggs, 
and honey. 

We had brought two dragomen with us 
from Beyrout, who deserve a passing notice 
as a brief description of them will serve to 
dispel all illusions clustering around that for- 
midable and somewhat mysterious word" dra- 
goman." 

226 



DAMASCUS. 



227 



One was named Patient ; mild, inoffensive, 
fairly well educated — for an Arab, — speaking 
poor English, slow to understand, probably 
up to all the wiles and deceits of his class, but 
withal the possessor of a remarkably honest 
pair of eyes. We may have been deceived, 
but we think he tried to do his very best for 
us, which was too truly very bad, as he knew 
next to nothing about Damascus, her customs, 
or her people. 

But the other creature was a gem ! He 
could n't speak a word of English, had a smat- 
tering of French more deadly than that of 
any of our party, and cared for nothing except 
to secure his commissions at the bazaars. 

He wanted to arrange the programme for 
each day, forced himself into the family circle 
around the brazier, and, unbidden, argued the 
pros and cons of our plans, visited with Lew 
when he was lonely, helped smoke his good 
cigars brought at great expense and no small 
risk from America, got regularly "full" about 
10 o'clock each morning and stayed so the 
rest of the day, and was, in fact, so utterly 
worthless in every particular that we simply 
were obliged to give him the G. B. 

His place was taken by a local guide whose 



228 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



first name was Franz. I pause before this 
vision of Damascus as it comes from out the 
shadowy past, in despair, feeling my inability 
to do the subject justice, yet anxious to try, 
knowing that to us all the memory of Damas- 
cus without the memory of Franz would be 
but an idle dream. He was a Hungarian 
refugee who had left his native land with 
Kossuth, fought his way through the Crimean 
war, and then, like Othello, his occupation 
gone, had drifted to Syria. 

Of medium stature, considerably bent with 
his sixty years of hardships in many climes, 
not spare, nor yet corpulent, he seemed to 
glide rather than walk over the ground, looking 
so craftily to the right and the left out of the 
corners of his eyes, seeming to see nothing, 
yet seeing every thing. His eyes were almost 
uncanny in their brightness, and when he 
spoke, his very plain but expressive face lit up 
with an enthusiasm, either real or feigned, 
which carried conviction with it. 

An inveterate smoker of cigarettes, he was 
scarcely ever without one either between his 
fingers or his lips, and the profuse yet courtly 
thanks with which he always received ours, 
often tendered, made us feel that the obliga- 
tion was entirely on our side. 



DAMASCUS. 



229 



His fund of information on all subjects, 
historical, religious, mythological, gleaned 
during a thirty-years' sojourn in Damascus in 
fair weather and foul, during pleasant days of 
prosperity and the dreadful hours of the 
Christian massacre of i860, was simply inex- 
haustible. 

A man of intelligence, keen observation, 
and no small discernment, he had made good 
use of his opportunities, being, for the purpose 
of learning that which was both useful and 
curious, all things to all men. He knew every 
man in Damascus, and with them all he seemed 
on the best of terms. Never obtrusive, always 
studiously polite, he quite won our hearts 
long before we took him into our service (he 
was an attache of the hotel), after we had 
sent the bad man home to Beyrout in 
disgrace. 

It was amusing to see his enthusiasm when 
recounting the legends of the places we visited, 
and so skilfully had he interwoven the histori- 
cal and the mythical, that it would have taken 
a better posted tourist than the most careful 
student of the guide-books to have caught 
him. 

But it was when conducting a shopping ex- 
pedition through the bazaars that Franz was 



230 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



at his best. He knew the market value of 
every article of commerce from a cane up to a 
camel, and while he doubtless received the 
usual commission (we hope he did), our experi- 
ence " bazaaring " under other auspices for 
two days convinced us that with him nothing 
more than the commission came out of us. 

The courtly way he would bow when some 
turbaned robber asked us two or three prices 
for any article, and the expression of wither- 
ing scorn with which he would say in Arabic, 
" I am very much obliged to you," was enough 
to crush the most obdurate, and to turn to our 
favor the trembling balance in many a skilfully 
conducted trade. 

During a delightful lazy week our principal 
occupation was wandering around the bazaars 
and by-ways seeking for things odd and orna- 
mental (we found few of the latter, strictly 
speaking), and interwoven with it all is the 
picture of old Franz moving along, sometimes 
ahead, sometimes behind, one arm generally 
full of bundles, flitting from one group of our 
pilgrims to another, now bargaining for a 
piece of embroidery, now for a silver spoon, 
or some valuable piece of old junk, always 
watchful, and apparently as intensely interest- 



DAMASCUS. 



231 



ed as any of us. We drove one day through 
the Christian quarter, a melancholy sight, not 
yet recovered from the terrible devastation of 
i860, and it is doubtful if the Christians will 
ever be again as numerous or prosperous as 
they were before that date. 

We learned from Pietro a new but entirely 
authentic version of the settlement of the 
indemnity after the massacre. When the 
Turkish Government found that the Great 
Powers had determined on reparation being 
made to the Christians, they immediately 
began scheming to get out of the scrape as 
cheaply as possible, and this is what they did. 
Some of the most influential among the suf- 
ferers were called in. " How much did you 
lose?" " Ten thousand pounds." "Very well; 
make out your claim for twenty thousand 
pounds and it will be paid ; only you must 
help us with your people to get out of this 
trouble as cheaply as possible." 

In other words, a few of the heaviest losers 
were bribed to assist the authorities in robbing 
the poorer ones. But Turkish cunning did 
not stop here. All orders for the payment of 
indemnity had to pass through the hands of 
Turkish brokers, who were careful to take a 



232 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

good slice by way of commissions (generally 
about one third of the total award), which the 
Christians, from the very questionable nature 
of the entire transaction, could not gainsay. 

The mosques of Damascus are neither im- 
posing, beautiful, nor interesting, excepting the 
Great Mosque, and this chiefly from its enor- 
mous size, its early associations with Christian- 
ity, and the reverence with which it is regarded 
by Mussulmans, being second in sanctity only 
to the mosque at Mecca and the mosque of 
Omar at Jerusalem. 

To gain admittance it is necessary to be 
accompanied by the "cavass" (an armed 
retainer) of some embassy, to pay a good 
round fee, and, as is the case in all mosques, 
to wear sacred slippers. 

The Great Mosque occupies a quadrangle 
489 x 324 feet ; the building is 431 x 125, di- 
vided into three aisles of equal breadth by two 
ranges of columns, these latter, twenty-two 
feet high, supporting round arches. In the 
centre is a dome resting on four massive piers. 
Beneath this dome, or some place else in the 
building, is buried the head of John the 
Baptist. 

Round the mosque are the traces of a court 



DAMASCUS. 



233 



ioo x 800 encompassed by colonnades similar 
to those of the Temple of Herod at Jerusalem 
and the Temple of the Sun at Palmyra. 

This was doubtless the site of the Temple 
of Rimmon. 

The chief features of interest about the 
mosque are the tomb of St. John, within the 
building proper ; the little library building in 
the court, where are preserved many priceless 
manuscripts never exhibited, on account of an 
ancient superstition that, should the room be 
opened, certain evil spirits would escape who 
would destroy the religion of Islam; the beau- 
tiful exterior colonnade ; the minaret of Issas, 
where Christ will descend at his second com- 
ing ; and, chief of all, stuck off in a little building 
at one side, the unpretentious tomb of Saladin, 
where are to be seen the most magnificent 
specimens in the world of the antique blue 
tiles of Damascus. The interior of the tomb 
is lined with them to a height of ten feet, and 
something of their value may be imagined from 
the offer made by an Englishman to replace 
them with the most costly modern tile and 
pay two thousand pounds sterling for the 
privilege of taking them out. Side by side 
are the tombs of Saladin and his Grand Vizier, 



234 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

the catafalques, covered with a pall of black 
velvet, embroidered in silver with passages 
from the Koran ; above the head, the green 
turban which each wore in life ; at the head, 
a copy of the Koran ; at the four corners, 
enormous wax candles, lighted only at certain 
great religious festivals. 

Perhaps it was as well, but it seemed to me 
a desolate, dreary mausoleum for so great 
a chieftain. Why did they not build for him, 
on the lofty peak of some mountain, a mag- 
nificent monument, worthy his splendid fame, 
from which his spirit might look out upon the 
land he loved so well, and which for years he 
defended so successfully with a courage and 
skill unsurpassed by the flower of Western 
chivalry, which opposed to him the fabled 
achievements of Richard Cceur-de-Lion and 
his knightly associates ? 

We climbed to the very top of the loftiest 
minaret of the Mosque and while there, the 
muezzin came up to call the faithful to prayer. 
He was a jolly, fat, old fellow, well fed and 
urbane, who had no objection (for a considera- 
tion) to our remaining while he chanted his 
religious invocation, and this is what he said ; 
" God is greatest ! I am a witness that there is 



DAMASCUS. 



235 



no God but him. I am a witness [or bear 
witness] that Mohammed is a messenger of 
God. Be ready to pray, make salutes to the 
skies. God is greatest ; there is no God but 
him. May God bless the inhabitants of Syria, 
our lord Mohammed, and all those who be- 
lieve in him ! " 

This calling to prayer is generally performed 
by but one priest from a minaret, but from 
another minaret of the Great Mosque a 
chorus of twelve priests responded to the 
above incantation, while at the sound, in the 
great court below, every one of the faithful 
fell prostrate, with his face towards Mecca, 
devoutly praying. 

There is one strange feature about the 
Great Mosque which made a deep impression 
on my mind. The holiest spot within its pre- 
cincts is the tomb of John the Baptist, jeal- 
ously guarded, and surrounded with a railing 
so ponderous as to defy all attempts of relic- 
hunting vandals to carry off any part of it. 
Of course John the Baptist is not buried here, 
nor any place else that any one knows of, but 
the Mussulmans all firmly believe that he is, 
and hold the place in deepest veneration, 
utterly incomprehensible to us. Now these 



235 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



fanatics consider our religion simply worse 
than no religion at all, and yet they worship 
the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem ; and any 
thing pertaining to the early leaders of the 
Christian Church is second in holiness only to 
the sacred stone at Mecca. At what point did 
their religious belief begin to diverge from 
ours? Or if there never was any thing in 
common between Mohammedanism and Chris- 
tianity, why the sanctity attaching to the saints 
and apostles ? 

The walls of the city, in many places en- 
tirely destroyed, nowhere present a very im- 
posing appearance, as they are neither high nor 
very thick ; and those portions now standing 
bear the marks of frequent restoration. 

We saw the place, about thirty feet high, 
where St. Paul was let down by a rope, and, 
near by, the tomb of St. George, the friend 
who, tradition says, lost his life for conniving 
at the Apostle's escape. I here insert the ven- 
erable chestnut that the street called " Strait" 
is very crooked. 

There are, in fact, no streets in Damascus 
along which it is a pleasure to drive, save the 
one leading through the Gate of God out into 
the country, being a continuation of the high- 



DAMASCUS. 



237 



way coming from Beyrout, and the street in 
the new quarter on the hill-side to the north- 
west of the ancient city, where are the palaces 
of the Governor and some of the fine modern 
residences of the wealthy Damascenes. 

The first-named street is well paved through 
the city, and will connect with the new high- 
way now being constructed for a hundred 
miles through the fertile district of the Hau- 
ran. Work on this road was inaugurated with 
great pomp one day while we were in Damas- 
cus, and will be prosecuted by a body of five 
thousand men (forced labor) until it is com- 
pleted. 

We made the acquaintance of the engineer 
in charge, but we did n't like him. He was a 
handsome young Greek, and should have been 
able to recognize a song of classic Yale which 
we sang very badly one night in the parlor, 
instead of asking if it was n't a church tune. 

He was evidently of a religious turn of 
mind, for hearing one of the party addressed 
as " Colonel," he asked if the gentleman was 
a Colonel in the Salvation Army, as he had 
understood there was no other army in America. 

These evidences of a barbaric mind and 
woful lack of discernment engendered a feel- 



238 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



ing of coolness which never entirely disap- 
peared. 

He was an amusing fellow, though, and we 
were somewhat mollified by his evident admi- 
ration for America and Americans, although 
he thought our people as a nation possessed 
too much curiosity. 

He said he had been told that at Niagara 
Falls was a tower on an island, and that every 
year the ledge on which the tower stood was 
gradually crumbling away, so that in a few 
years the tower would tumble into the river 
and go over the Falls. And he supposed that 
some of the Americans would be so anxious to 
have the last view from the famous tower that 
at least a dozen of them would go over the 
Falls with it ! 

If he had added that they would be too late 
to get out because they were busy writing 
their names in some conspicuous place, he 
would have pretty nearly described two prom- 
inent characteristics of a large number of 
American tourists. 

One day we went up to the vast open space 
just beyond the mosque of Tekkeyeh to see 
the gentlemen of the city, some of them 
mounted on the far-famed steeds of Arabia, 



DAMASCUS. 



239 



indulging in a game something like " Pris- 
oner's Base." 

They separate in two lines, about three hun- 
dred yards apart, and the game consists in first 
one and another riding out from the different 
sides, being pursued towards "home," the 
pursuer trying to get near enough to the pur- 
sued to touch him with a light stick which is 
hurled like a spear. 

The sport is very exciting, and the skill of 
horsemen oftentimes marvellous. 

My acquaintance with Arabian steeds hav- 
ing been confined to the pie-bald variety which 
canter around with a pad-saddle in the circus, 
I was somewhat skeptical as to the fabled 
values and virtues of the famous coursers of 
the desert. But words are powerless to de- 
scribe the exquisite beauty of a thoroughbred 
Arabian. No horses in the world can com- 
pare with them, and I can well believe the 
stories of the wonderful attachment existing 
between horse and master, for even an Arab 
could not fail to love one of these peerless 
creatures. 

The horses are of all colors from white to 
black (I mean all the quieter colors, I did n't 
see any blue or pink horses) ; very high-spir- 



240 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT V/E SAW. 



ited, but apparently endowed with marvellous 
intelligence. It is a singular fact that the 
mares are worth from five to ten times as 
much as the stallions. While a good stallion 
can be bought for eight hundred dollars, a 
high-bred mare is often worth as many thou- 
sands. 

Although the riders use a rather formidable- 
looking curb bit, the horses are in reality con- 
trolled by a small stick carried in the right 
hand ; certain motions of which denote change 
of direction as well as of speed, a very slight 
touch of the bit being sometimes necessary. 
I did not see a single rider of a thoroughbred 
who used spurs. 

In playing the game, the stirrups were short, 
ridiculously so, it seemed to me, but the reason 
was manifest when, by a simple wave of the 
stick and a slight check with the curb, I saw 
horses come to a dead stop from the swiftest 
run. Unless the rider had been able to brace 
himself in the stirrups, clear of the saddle, he 
must inevitably have been hurled prone over 
the horse's head. 

The government are very watchful in regard 
to these horses, and rarely allow any of them 
to be taken from the country. An Italian 



DAMASCUS. 



241 



spent six months in and about Damascus last 
year buying horses for the Italian officers at 
Suakim. He selected thirty, for some of which 
he paid fabulous prices, but when he got ready 
to ship them he was politely informed that they 
could not be taken out of Syria ! He was then 
in Constantinople trying to arrange the affair 
with the government. 

Walking along the narrow, crooked streets 
of Damascus, no one would suspect that the 
unpretentious exteriors of the two-storied 
houses concealed ought of magnificence with- 
in. Entering through a doorway you find 
yourself in a small area, the servants' quarters 
I should call it ; then through another door- 
way, and to your utter surprise you are in a 
splendid court, paved with marble of various 
colors ; in the centre, a large fountain, and all 
around, fruit trees, and flowers growing in 
profusion. 

On this court open the principal apartments, 
although some houses have still another court, 
as did the palace of the Lieutenant-Governor, 
which we afterwards visited. 

Many of the dwellings are of great extent, 
and while we visited a number, and were in 
each instance struck with the lavish manner in 

16 



242 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



which they were decorated and furnished, 
there was about them all a complete absence 
of any thing that looked like comfort. 

The luxurious divans, on which dark-eyed 
houris stretch themselves in graceful listless- 
ness and scant clothing, exist only in the ad- 
vertisements of American cigarettes and plug 
tobacco. 

As an example, let me give the dry details 
of the salon of a wealthy Jew, and then dis- 
miss the subject with the statement that every 
house of any pretension has at least one such 
apartment of decided<gorgeousness and greater 
or less beauty, generally less. 

The room was rectangular, about 18x36, 
with but one doorway opening from the court 
about one third of the way from the lower cor- 
ner ; ceiling about thirty feet high. 

Immediately opposite the door, midway be- 
tween the two walls, was a magnificent marble 
fountain "three stories" high ; the first basin 
upheld by six carved lions, the water-jets 
being from dolphin-heads, on top of which 
rested the second basin. Here were swans 
with fish, supporting the third basin, and into 
this the water played from fishes' mouths. In 
the wall, directly beyond the fountain and 



DAMASCUS. 



243 



opposite the door, a plate-glass mirror. One 
half of the floor of the apartment was raised 
about fifteen inches. I believe the difference 
in height of the two portions when occupied 
has something to do with the relative import- 
ance of the guests. The walls, about two 
feet in thickness, were pierced with twenty 
windows below and twenty-eight above, there 
being two sets of windows, external and in- 
ternal, ninety-six in all, the former of colored 
glass, the latter of plate. The floor was a 
mosaic of four different-colored marbles. From 
the floor to the lower window-sills was about 
four and a half feet, and this space was filled 
with inlaid marble work. On either side of 
the lower windows a beautiful slender marble 
column, and the five window-spaces below, 
occupied with mirrors, were similarly adorned. 
Over the lower windows was a most elaborate 
cap of carved marble, then came marble me- 
dallions surrounded by black marble set in 
mother-of-pearl. At the farther end of the 
room the spaces over the mirrors were orna- 
mented with fruits carved in different-colored 
marbles. Between the upper windows were 
pilasters of raised woodwork elaborately carved 
on a blue background. The ceiling was beau- 



244 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



tifully painted and ornamented with an exqui- 
site pattern of raised work in gold and white. 

In the corners, flowers and fruits, relieved 
with small pieces of looking-glass. The arch 
over the break in the floor was decorated with 
similar work. The inside blinds were of apri- 
cot-wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The 
furniture consisted of thirty-six chairs, the 
frames similarly inlaid, upholstered in light- 
blue brocade with bright-colored flowers. Two 
huge crystal chandeliers furnished a perfect 
blaze of light. On the wall were two Hebrew 
inscriptions : one, the name of the owner ; the 
other, a legend bidding welcome to all comers 
and expressing the hope that the. house would 
stand forever. 

Such was the parlor of one of the many 
magnificent private residences of Damascus, 
all of them, I surmise, being woefully wanting 
in Western comfort or beauty of furnishing. 

Our ladies visited the harem of the Lieuten- 
ant-Governor one day, whose house was as 
large as a good-sized hotel. We gentlemen 
stayed in the outer court, sorry, for the first 
time in our lives that we were not women. 
But we soon got over this on receiving the 
report from the sacred interior. The ladies 



DAMASCUS. 



245 



of the harem were poorly dressed and so dis- 
tressingly plain that little Henry, who, not 
being of a dangerous age, had been allowed to 
enter, reported that the " Pride of the Harem" 
looked just like their cook Tilda, at home. 
Any one who has ever seen the charming crea- 
ture who presides over Mrs. C.'s range, needs 
no further comment on the beauty of these 
unhappy creatures, called by courtesy, wives. 
Their clothing was shabby in the extreme ; 
the furniture of their " boudoirs " consisted of 
a bed on the floor, and a few rugs scattered 
about in place of chairs ! 

And yet this man, their husband, was young, 
rich, and a prominent citizen, most charitably 
disposed, for we were told that he daily fed 
a large number of deserving poor ; and we 
judged him to be generous in his family, for 
while we were there he was bargaining for 
some beautiful shawls. They simply don't 
know how to enjoy the comforts of life as 
we do. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



DAMASCUS (Continued). 

On Saturday we noticed early in the morn- 
ing crowds of women strolling along in the 
direction of the parade-ground, and as usual, 
we sought of Franz the explanation. 

According to tradition, there lived many 
years ago in Damascus a most tyrannical ruler, 
hated by the people generally, yet a favorite 
with the army. Through his spies and detec- 
tives he ascertained the name of 70,000 citi- 
zens who were accused of "murmuring " against 
him ; so he quietly gathered them together 
one day, surrounded them with the army, and 
cut their tongues out. It is needless to add 
that they all died. But this butchery was only 
the commencement of the tyrant's troubles. 
The wives and mothers of the murdered men 
made such a clamor for husbands and protect- 
ors, that the tyrant set his wits to work to 
find some way out of this new trouble, which 

246 



DAMASCUS. 



247 



threatened him more seriously than did the 
former. At last he dispatched an army off 
towards Jerusalem with instructions to gather 
up from the roving tribes of the desert such 
well-favored men as would fill the places of 
those who had been killed. His commands 
were obeyed, and a messenger dispatched to 
Damascus to announce that the army would 
arrive in the city on a Saturday. 

So week after week on that day, the moth- 
ers and wives, closely veiled, walked out on 
the road towards Jerusalem, until at length on 
the seventh Saturday, the army, with its long 
train of captives, came over the hills into the 
valley, and by the caliph's command each one 
of the vast throng of expectant women chose 
for herself a husband. 

For the poor captives it was a good deal of 
a lottery, as many a fine young fellow found 
himself the property of some rather ancient 
dame. The caliph, however, had suffered the 
women to retain the property of their slaugh- 
tered relatives, and this served to render the 
pill somewhat sugar-coated. 

The tradition may have little foundation in 
fact, yet certain it is that on seven consecutive 
Saturdays in the early spring, the women of 



248 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Damascus take a holiday and go out in the 
direction of the ancient road by which the 
army returned. We saw thousands of them, 
all closely veiled, wandering aimlessly along 
the road, chatting but little and yet having 
fun, I suppose, according to their notions. 

Occasionally here and there amid the mad- 
ding throng we saw a lonely man, not taking 
active part in the festivities, however, other 
than to sell nuts, cakes, or temperance bever- 
ages of some kind to the dear girls. 

One afternoon we drove up with old Franz 
to a point overlooking the city and valley. 
And while he pointed out to us the Garden of 
Eden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good 
and Evil, the spot where Cain killed Abel, the 
place far away on the other side of the valley 
where Adam and Eve took up their abode 
after being driven out of Eden, it required no 
great stretch of the imagination to believe 
that here in truth was that historic garden. 

The sun was just setting behind the peaks 
of Anti-Libanus. From the white minarets of 
the city came the faint sound of the muezzin's 
voice calling the faithful to prayer, while spread 
out before us for miles were the famous gar- 
dens (the view unobstructed by unsightly 



DAMASCUS. 



249 



walls) white with the myriad blossoms of 
countless apricot trees. 

The air was heavy with fragrance ; every- 
where were signs of that luxurious vegetation 
which has made this valley the garden of the 
East, famous in song and story for over four 
thousand years ; and as we gazed upon the 
fascinating picture, we forgot all else save its 
wondrous loveliness. 

"The view of Damascus from the crest of 
Anti-Libanus is scarcely surpassed in the 
world. The elevation is about five hundred 
feet above the city, which is nearly two 
miles distant. Tapering minarets and swelling 
domes tipped with golden crescents rise above 
the white terraced roofs ; while is some places 
their glittering tops appear among the green 
foliage of the gardens. In the centre of the 
city stands the Great Mosque, and near it are 
the gray battlements of the old Castle. Away 
to the south the eye follows a long suburb, 
while below the ridge on which we stand is the 
Merj, the Ajer Damascenus of early travel- 
lers — a green meadow extending along the 
river from the mouth of the ravine to the city. 

" The gardens and orchards which have been 
so long and justly celebrated encompass the 



250 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

whole city, sweeping the base of the bleak 
hills like a sea of verdure, and covering an 
area more than thirty miles in circuit. The 
varied tints of the foliage greatly enhance the 
beauty of the picture." 

Old Franz summed up the situation pretty 
well when he said : " I do not know, by my- 
self, that this was the Garden of Eden, but 
where can you find a place more beautiful 
with sunshine and flowers and the charm of 
eternal spring ? " 

As we regretfully descended the hill I took 
a last look at the Tree of the Knowledge of 
Good and Evil. It stands in the garden of 
one of the Turkish officials (who from all 
accounts has n't made himself very intimately 
acquainted with its fruit), and looked to me 
much like a pine or cedar, evidently an ever- 
green. 

I told Franz that such trees did n't have any 
fruit in our country, and that I must be ex- 
cused from accepting the identity of this tree 
as claimed. He merely answered : " Well, it 
don't have any fruit now that you can eat, 
but we don't know what grew on it six thousand 
years ago ! " And speaking of the Turkish offi- 
cials reminds me of what Pietro told us one day 



DAMASCUS. 



251 



about them. The Ottoman exchequer is so 
hopelessly bankrupt that the revenues, if hon- 
estly collected, would not suffice for current 
expenses. This being the case, and acting on 
the adage that a whole loaf is better than half 
a loaf, the Turkish officials, in arranging the 
schedule of salaries, decided to commence at 
the top of the civil and military list, to be 
liberal as far as they went, and stop when the 
money gave out. 

The Governor-General, and the Commander- 
in-Chief of the five corps forming the army of 
Syria, each has a salary of $1,000 per month, 
and they get it. Both of these officials live 
in Damascus, and as we saw a fine palace which 
rented for 1,500 francs a year, other necessities 
being cheap in proportion, they must be able 
to save about five sixths of their pay. 

The brigadier-generals receive $600 per 
month ; but from this rank down the actual 
pay decreases in geometrical proportion. The 
private soldiers have had no pay for over two 
years. 

The captains and lieutenants have pay, nomi- 
nally, but seldom get it. A favorite method 
of treating a faithful officer to whom the Sul- 
tan is largely in arrears, is to promote him ! 



252 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



The private soldiers, however, are well fed, 
well clothed, and have comfortable quarters. 
They are, in fact, far better off without pay 
than as private citizens, for many of them, as 
such, would be without food. 

The army of Syria and Palestine numbers 
25,000 men of all arms, beside 4,000 Bashi- 
Bazouks. 

The garrison of Damascus is chiefly artil- 
lery, comprising twelve or fourteen batteries 
of six pieces each. 

We had heard long before we sighted the 
historic island of Pharos, of the strange vi- 
sions of Oriental life which the streets of Alex- 
andria would reveal to our bewildered gaze. 
And though we were bewildered, the presence 
of railroads, omnibuses, European stores, and 
French cafes went far toward destroying the 
illusion. 

We had prepared ourselves for true Oriental 
scenes and people when we entered the fabled 
precincts of the city of Haroun-al-Raschid ; 
and yet here we beheld asphalt sidewalks 
and Belgian pavements, electric lights and a 
general assortment of European swindles 
shamelessly disguised beneath a red fez and 
barbarous French. 



DAMASCUS. 



253 



Orientalism no longer exists, except where 
brought into the most incongruous juxtaposi- 
tion with things painfully modern. At least 
such was our observation. 

Imagine nineteenth-century landaus in the 
historic streets of Damascus ; English prints 
and German china in her bazaars, where for 
thousands of years the costly curious fabrics 
of the East were alone wont to be sold, while 
along her highways throng soldiers in modern 
uniforms, such as may be seen in the streets 
of Brussels and Berlin. 

At the hotels every thing is modern, mostly 
French, except the butter, which is doubtless 
some that Richard the Lion-Hearted sent as 
a present to Saladin at the conclusion of the 
Third Crusade, in a last despairing effort to 
kill the mighty Moslem. At Cairo, at Bey- 
rout, at Constantinople, and at Damascus the 
menus were always in French, nor did we 
during our entire sojourn in the East have an 
opportunity to taste of a dish essentially charac- 
teristic of Oriental cooking, unless we bought 
it of some street vendor or in a cafe. 

But in Damascus, and in Damascus alone, 
we saw, with the possible exception of Bag- 
dad, the most Oriental city in the world. 



254 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



The streets, the costumes of the people, sol- 
diers excepted, the buildings, — none of them 
show any of the modifications which inevitably 
accompany the advent of modern civilization. 

The bazaars are not so numerous as those 
of Cairo, nor so magnificent as those of Con- 
stantinople, but they are truly Oriental, and 
the almost countless centuries which have 
rolled over them have left them unchanged 
both in fashion and in form. 

I must except one fine modern building 
which owes its being to the rather questiona- 
ble enterprise of a governor who was run out 
of the city not long ago. 

This gentleman, who seems to have had 
some muddled ideas of progress, tried to 
induce the numerous occupants of a disreputa- 
ble old barn, or series of barns, which formed 
the principal bazaar of the city, to consent to 
the erection of more commodious quarters. 
True to their traditional bigotry, they refused, 
to a man, the proposition, and the governor, 
being pressed for time, just set the bazaars on 
fire one night. The fire department, consist- 
ing of a lot of hand-engines, was promptly 
on the scene, but his highness had carefully 
seen to it beforehand that the engines were 



DAMASCUS. 



255 



filled with kerosene oil in place of water ! It 
is not necessary to add that the buildings 
burned, but when the stratagem was discov- 
ered afterwards the governor had to flee for 
his life. He was not " butchered to make a 
Roman holiday," but he would have been if 
the losers (no insurance) had ever caught him. 

It seemed strange to us that this great city 
should be connected with the outside world 
by but one highway, and yet such is the fact. 

I cannot say that among the many useful, 
curious, and ornamental articles we there found 
for sale we were particularly impressed with 
any thing save the exquisite silver filigree work. 

The silks were far inferior to the famous 
sashes of Rome ; the inlaid tables of mother- 
of-pearl were crude in comparison with won- 
derful woodwork one finds in the Yosemite ; 
the famous " Damascus blades," alas ! are 
mostly manufactured in Germany ; and five 
hundred years have waxed and waned since 
last the sun looked down upon the renowed 
potteries where were manufactured the exqui- 
site blue tiles which line the tomb of the 
princely Saladin. 

But the charm of the past is over the city ; 
the spirit of bygone ages hovers in the very 



256 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



atmosphere, and each day brought with it 
some surprise, which was all the more enjoya- 
ble because, no matter how diligently we had 
studied the guide-books, we failed to find any 
mention of these interesting features. 

The more opulent of the Syrians wear long 
cloaks trimmed with the fur of the red fox. 

We saw a number of bazaars where these 
furs were exposed for sale, and of course we 
immediately opened negotiations for the pur- 
chase of something so distinctly Oriental. 
But when Franz informed us in a whisper 
that most of these skins came from America, 
business at once came to a standstill, and the 
purchases were never completed. 

I have spoken of the veils, always black, 
worn by the Egyptian ladies. The fair ones 
of Damascus, however, to make the custom as 
repulsive as possible, select veils woven in the 
most elaborate and preposterous flower pat- 
terns. And when we met one of these 
creatures with an enormous yellow daisy 
covering one eye, while an impossible green 
rose extended from the tip of the nose 
around to the southeast corner of the right 
ear, the effect can be better imagined than 
described. 



DAMASCUS. 



257 



Our bibulous companions, Squire DeL. and 
George H., declared that the red wines of 
the country, price two francs per bottle, were 
superior to the best clarets of France. They 
certainly sampled enough to form a fairly 
intelligent opinion. 

Pietro informed us with commendable frank- 
ness, soon after our arrival, that he was not in 
the country for his health, and while we did 
not find it out from the size of the hotel bills 
(Cook & Son settled these), we were a little 
suspicious that such was the fact, from the 
prices we paid him for sundry brass articles 
of Damascene manufacture, selected from the 
vast stock with which every public place in 
the hotel was filled. Pietro was a cheerful, 
plausible chap, keenly alive to the comforts of 
his guests. A dragoman of twenty years' ex- 
perience, he knew that Americans were partial 
to codfish cooked in cream, likewise ham and 
eggs. And he had them for us, prepared 
to perfection. It was a master-stroke on 
the part of good Pietro, and no doubt se- 
cured him the sale of sundry brass platters, 
kettles, lamps, and other commodities, at 
prices — well, at prices which were satisfactory 

to himself. But Pietro would allow no one 
17 



258 



HOw WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



else to swindle us. He soon learned of our 
weakness for rugs. " Be sure you buy straight 
ones," he would say ; " have them sent here 
and spread out on the floor." And after hav- 
ing been deceived a few times by having a 
very crooked rug thrown, with apparent care- 
lessness, but in reality with consummate skill, 
across a pile on the floor of some bazaar, we 
learned that his way was the right way, and 
thenceforward we followed it. 

If the price was exorbitant, after we had 
secured a reduction of 25 or 50 per cent, 
he would tell us so, and the bazaar-keepers 
did not dare to gainsay him. Some of them 
tried to appear insulted when we asked them 
to bring their rugs to the hotel for inspection, 
but we soon found these fellows to be swin- 
dlers, and carried our somewhat disastrous 
patronage to other quarters. 

There had not been a caravan from Bagdad 
for some months prior to our arrival, and the 
stock of rugs in the city was very low. 

I don't suppose it amounted to over ten 
thousand, but we saw them all at least once, 
and many of them a dozen times. And when 
we made our modest selections, after many a 
serious consultation, which must have con- 



DAMASCUS. 



259 



veyed to the minds of these simple Syrians 
that we were all to be drawn and quartered on 
our return to America, if we brought home 
any thing not exactly to the taste of the 
entire party, children included, the commercial 
community of the ancient city heaved a sigh 
of relief, as if conscious that a great crisis had 
been met and safely passed. 

Well, one day we searched the bazaars from 
one end of the town to the other for rugs of a 
certain size ; large ones, large enough to car- 
pet a good-sized room, and as Franz, in his 
zeal, had, I suppose, for the purpose of ob- 
taining for us a better assortment, intimated 
in a general way that this party of wealthy 
Americans intended to purchase the entire 
stock then on hand, our way through the 
bazaars was fairly carpeted with countless 
rugs, spread out for our inspection, as we 
passed along. 

We selected I do not know how many, and 
these were all to be carried to the green sward 
on the bank of the river, opposite the mosque 
of Tekkeyeh, the next morning, and there 
spread out, so that the clear light of day 
might help us detect imposition. 

We were on hand at the appointed hour, 



260 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

and there beheld a curious sight. A couple 
of acres, I should say, were covered with rugs 
of all colors, sizes, and qualities. 

On the outskirts a small cavalcade of don- 
keys, used in transporting the carpets from 
the bazaars, were peacefully dozing ; a few 
attendants were strolling lazily about awaiting 
our coming, while in the very centre of the 
largest rug sat the Syrian merchant, in charge 
of the invoice, indolently smoking his narghili, 
apparently as unmoved by the approaching 
commotion as were the dozing donkeys. 

The rugs were certainly a beautiful lot, 
artistically arranged too upon the fresh green 
grass ; and so eager were we to close the trade 
at once for the entire consignment, that it 
required not only persuasion but almost com- 
mands on the part of Franz to prevent our 
falling into the trap prepared for us with such 
consummate skill by the wily Moslem. " Now 
we must bargain." And bargain we did. 
Never was Franz in better spirits ; never did 
his incomparable talents show off to better 
advantage. To the feigned imperturbability 
of the Syrian he opposed an indifference so 
superb that for a moment we did him the foul 
wrong to suppose that he was trying to lure 



DAMASCUS. 



261 



us from the tempting bargain that he might 
secure it for himself. It was a wordy en- 
counter long drawn out, but with Franz for 
our champion there could be only one out- 
come. We secured the coveted rugs, and at 
Franz' price, which was, of course, our price. 

And speaking of rugs reminds me of a joke 
which the wily old sinner perpetrated on one 
of our ladies the day we visited the Great 
Mosque. This enormous structure is carpeted 
with hundreds, yes, thousands, of rugs, the 
gifts of devotees, princes, and potentates. 
They are of all qualities, sizes, colors, and 
shapes, spread over the marble floor in the 
wildest confusion, without the slightest at- 
tempt at artistic effect ; here a threadbare old 
ruin, worth perhaps a dollar and a half, side 
by side with an exquisite specimen from Bok- 
hara or Daghestan, worth five hundred times as 
much ; the collection, in fact, being almost as 
much of a curiosity to the average tourist 
as the interior of the mosque itself. As we 
slid over these rugs in our gigantic sacred 
slippers, which, being put on over our shoes, 
were large enough for the average Chicago 
girl, old Franz came skating up to one of the 
party, and said : " You see the many, many 



262 HOW WE V/ENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

rugs upon the floor ? They are being sent 
here all the time, more than can ever be used, 
and it is a rule to give one to every party that 
visits the mosque." 

Well, here was an opportunity for a "bar- 
gain " such as we had not deemed possible 
even in our wildest dreams. Antiquity, his- 
torical associations, tradition, at once ceased 
to be of interest. The lady addressed was 
soon separated from the rest of the party, eyes 
intent upon the floor ; evidently fearful that 
the custom might suddenly be changed before 
a selection could be made. A rug was speedily 
chosen ; Franz dragged it to the spot, and not 
until the old sinner's features relaxed from 
their devotional sombreness into the wickedest 
sort of a grin, did the unwelcome truth force 
itself upon us that we had been egregiously 
sold. 



CHAPTER XX. 



DAMASCUS (Concluded). 

Our experience in dispatching our pur- 
chases to America may be of value to future 
relic hunters. There is one firm in Damascus, 
Lutike & Co., who will pack, ship, and de- 
liver to any part of the world any articles 
which one may consign to their care. 

It would seem to be an easy matter to pack 
and ship goods only to be opened at destina- 
tion. But such is not the case. Every thing 
sent out of a Turkish port is subject to an ex- 
port duty, nominally governed by a tariff, but 
in reality subject to the fancy, necessity, or 
rapacity of the official in charge. And as 
necessity knows no law, I am informed that it 
is by no means an uncommon thing for the 
custom-house officer, when the goods are not 
in the immediate charge of some one con- 
versant with the free and easy morality of 
these much-maligned watch-dogs of the treas- 

263 



264 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



ury, to make such selections as may suit his 
fancy, and keep them for the adornment of his 
humble Oriental home. 

Lutike & Co., who are shippers of enormous 
quantities of native products, chiefly wool, 
understand perfectly the " peculiarities " of 
these people, and seem to know exactly how 
much it will require to pass an invoice of any 
kind. 

This amount they invariably pay in cash 
without being subjected to the annoyance of 
an examination. Of course the money never 
goes beyond the official who receives it, but 
of the invoice, nothing is "confiscated"; I 
believe that is what they call it. 

Our experience with this firm was eminently 
satisfactory. And although they doubtless 
thought when packing our plunder that our 
selections had been made with the view of 
amusing the inmates of some lunatic asylum 
in the United States, they treated us with as 
much consideration as if we had actually pur- 
chased something worth sending away. 

There are some bazaars where English 
prints and cottons are sold exclusively, and in 
these were always to be found many Damas- 
cene women, buying foreign goods at ex- 



DAMASCUS. 



265 



orbitant prices, I doubt not, simply because 
they were foreign ; just as we were doing in 
perhaps the very next bazaar. Human nature 
is pretty much the same the world over. 

There is one bazaar that rejoices in the very 
undignified but decidedly expressive name of 
the " Louse Bazaar." It contains the most 
marvellous conglomeration one can imagine. 
Every article second-hand, and every article 
inhabited ; they all looked so, anyhow. The 
name kept our ladies at a respectful distance, 
but Squire D. and I strayed through it, and 
nothing save consideration for our friends pre- 
vented us from making extensive purchases of 
veritable antiquities ; for prices were certainly 
marvellously low in comparison to those cur- 
rent elsewhere. When it was discovered at 
night where we had been, we were promptly 
quarantined until a careful and thorough ex- 
amination (with a fine tooth comb) demon- 
strated the fact that we were safe associates 
for civilized people. 

We drove down to the cemetery one day to 
see the tomb of Fatima, the daughter of Mo- 
hammed, who was, or was not, the ancestor of 
the Arab dynasty of Fatimites that cut such a 
figure in Egypt and Syria for a couple of cen- 



266 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



turies ; historians seeming to be a little mud- 
dled as to whether the Fatimites were her 
descendants, or those of a Jew who lived at 
Fez. It was quite a long ride down the well 
(and only) paved street in the city, among 
the grain bazaars, and out through the Gate 
of God. On this occasion we were under the 
care of that mild-mannered fraud, Patient. 
And on this day we discovered to our sorrow 
that Patient was considerable of a liar. He 
showed us a pretentious tomb, and said : " Here 
is buried Fatima, daughter of Mohammed." 
We were impressed. But on a closer inspec- 
tion we noticed in the same enclosure several 
graves of very recent construction. Having 
an ill-defined idea that all of Fatima's imme- 
diate descendants had been dead for several 
years, we asked Patient who these recent ad- 
ditions could be. After carefully perusing the 
fish-hooks on the newest tombstone, he in- 
formed us that it was a child of the Gover- 
nor. " Any relation of Fatima ? " " Must be." 
" Guess not," said Geo. H., " Fatima has been 
dead over one thousand two hundred years." 
Our confidence in Patient began to totter. 
" Read us the inscription on Fatima's tomb." 
Another inspection of the fish-hooks : " Well, 



DAMASCUS. 



267 



this is n't the tomb of Fatima ; it is the grave 
of a horse-dealer." 

Patient, the unblushing fraud, had probably 
never before heard of Fatima ; neither had 
the majority of the crowd (to tell the truth) 
until that day. 

The inscriptions on many of the tombs are 
very poetic ; here is one : " Our journey in 
this life is for nothing, therefore it is better 
to yield to what God wishes, and in this way 
every man should pursue his course, and know 
that this is the will of God to every creature." 

And this one : " On the tomb of Michael 
the tears are flowing, and his tomb by these 
tears is watered. He was as a fresh branch in 
the garden, and a full moon among the stars. 
Oh, family of Michael, be patient rather than 
weep ; your brother, with God is at rest. He 
was called December, 1885." 

We were in Damascus on a sort of Mussul- 
man Palm-Sunday. Everywhere in the streets 
were vendors of branches of some semi-ever- 
green shrub, and these, we learned, were used 
for decorations in the cemetery that day. It was 
the day of our expedition in search of the tomb 
of Fatima ; and the tombs and graves of the 
followers of the Prophet had somewhat the 



268 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



appearance of our own cemeteries on Decora- 
tion Day. Although the graves and tombs 
never receive any thing in the nature of re- 
pairs or attention further than this decoration, 
the friends and relatives of the deceased seem 
to have retained from remote Egyptian an- 
tiquity the custom of visiting the cemeteries 
and enjoying themselves, in funereal pic-nics, 
as it were. The idea of " funeral baked meats," 
I imagine, runs far back into the past, and can- 
not be claimed as a modern custom. We saw 
old men and maidens, young men and children, 
scattered here and there among the graves, 
some under tents and awnings, others grouped 
about one of their number, who seemed to be 
relating some legend, possibly instructing the 
others in passages from the Koran. And 
along the street close by rolled the busy 
throng, seemingly oblivious to the fact that 
soon they would be occupants of this peaceful 
city of the dead. 

On Friday, as we gathered in the parlor 
(our custom always in the evening) to have a 
last talk over our visit before a part of our 
friends started back to Beyrout on their way 
to Jaffa, Mr. Geo. C. arose and said: "Col. 
Reeve, the pleasant journey we have taken 



DAMASCUS. 



269 



together through so many lands ends here 
to-night. We part from you and Mrs. Reeve 
deeply regretting that you cannot make the 
trip with us through the Holy Land. But 
before we leave you I have been requested 
by your friends to present you with these 
tokens of our kindest regards, as manifesting 
our appreciation of the efforts you have made 
in our behalf that our journeyings thus far 
might be pleasant. Believe me that we shall 
always remember with feelings of keenest sat- 
isfaction the charming features of the trip, 
remarkable in many particulars, but in nothing 
more memorable than in this, that during 
so many weeks, in circumstances peculiar, 
ofttimes trying, our intercourse has not been 
marred by a single unpleasant incident." 

To say that I was surprised, but feebly ex- 
presses my feelings ; to assert that I was gratified 
beyond measure, conveys but a faint idea of my 
emotions. I tried to make some response, but 
could only express my thanks in the same blun- 
dering way a school-boy speaks his first piece. 

The " slight token " was a most exquisite 
set of coffee-cup holders, with a tray for each 
one, made of the far-famed Damascene silver 
filigree work. 



270 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

We passed a happy evening, and, although 
we knew that we should meet again at Bey- 
rout for a few hours, our farewells, ere we 
separated for the night (the others were to 
start early the following morning), had a 
deeper tinge of sadness than any of us cared 
to admit. 

I have strolled through the streets of gay 
Paris, and thought that here at least one could 
be happy forever; I have turned my back 
regretfully on the capital of the Montezumas, 
for many days thereafter longing for its music 
and sunshine and flowers ; I have dreamed 
away existence amid the marvellous scenery 
of the Yosemite, and felt that no spot on 
earth could be more charming ; but never in 
my life have I experienced a sentiment so 
nearly akin to heartfelt sorrow as when, in 
the starlight of that early Sunday morning, 
whose quiet was broken only by the murmur- 
ing of the rushing waters of the Abana, I bade 
farewell to old Damascus — forever. 

I do not know that I am much wiser for my 
visit. I do not know that my opportunities 
were improved as they should have been. 
But I enjoyed every minute. 

Perhaps it was the perfect rest; perhaps 



DAMASCUS. 



271 



the feeling that I was predisposed to be 
charmed ; possibly a good hotel and manifold 
comforts went to make up the tale ; certainly 
the unexpected and undeserved consideration 
of my friends would make an oasis of the 
desert. Be the cause what it may, I look 
back to those days as simply perfect in the 
pleasure which each hour brought. I bid 
farewell to Damascus, impressed that the 
glowing tribute, paid her by one of our own 
countrymen, is as fitting as it is beautiful : 

" Leave the matters written of in the first 
eleven chapters of the Old Testament out, 
and no recorded event has occurred in the 
world but Damascus was in existence to re- 
ceive the news of it. Go back as far as 
you will into the vague past, and there was 
always a Damascus. In the writings of every 
century, for more than four thousand years, her 
name has been mentioned and her praises sung. 
To Damascus years are only moments, decades 
are only flitting trifles of time. She measures 
time, not by days and months and years, but 
by the empires she has seen rise and prosper 
and crumble to ruin. She is a type of immor- 
tality. She saw the foundations of Baalbec 
and Thebes and Ephesus laid ; sjie saw these 



272 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



villages grow into mighty cities, and amaze 
the world with their grandeur — and she has 
lived to see them desolate and deserted and 
given over to the owls and the bats. She saw 
the Israelitish empire exalted — and she saw it 
annihilated. She saw Greece rise and flourish 
two thousand years — and die. In her old age 
she saw Rome built, she saw it overshadow 
the world with its power, she saw it perish. 
The few hundreds of years of Genoese and 
V enetian might and splendor were to grave 
old Damascus only a trifling scintillation, 
hardly worth remembering. Damascus has 
seen all that has ever occurred on earth, and 
still she lives. She has looked upon the dry 
bones of a thousand empires, and will see the 
tombs of a thousand more before she dies. 
Though another claims the name, old Damas- 
cus is by right the eternal city." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 

Our trip back to Beyrout was without spe- 
cial feature. We found our friends at the 
Hotel d'Orient, expecting to start the next 
evening for Jaffa, and, although we had been 
separated from them but two days, so lone- 
some were we that Agrippa was not more 
nearly persuaded to be a Christian than were 
we to take the " back track " with them. 
Monday was their golden opportunity — and 
they missed it. 

Tuesday we were delighfully entertained by 
Dr. and Mrs. Fisher, who completely won our 
hearts by their princely hospitality. 

Our steamer going north was due Wednes- 
day, and, as usual with the Austrian Lloyds, 
was a day late. The south-bound vessel 
was on time Wednesday, and the wind 
blowing great guns. It would be folly to 
start, so every one said, with the expectation 

273 



274 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

of landing at Jaffa. Our gratification was 
intense when, after hours of prayerful consid- 
eration, the Holy Land trip was abandoned. 

I have said that the Oriental houses we had 
seen were practically devoid of any of the 
comforts which wealth is supposed to bring. 
But we saw one house which gave us a very 
different notion of Oriental luxury. It be- 
longed to a Russian count, who generally 
spends a part of the spring and early summer 
in Beyrout. Without entering into any ex- 
tended account, I will only say that the dozen 
apartments on the main floor were furnished 
with an array of rugs so lavish as to be almost 
bewildering ; walls and floors, divans, tables, 
and chairs covered with them. The decora- 
tions were in excellent taste, the furniture of 
rare richness, without being gaudy ; fountains 
and mirrors, beautiful vases and pictures 
everywhere ; the entire dwelling, so far as 
we saw it, being pervaded with an air of 
refined luxury, all the more enchanting be- 
cause it was so utterly at variance with all the 
stilted splendor we had hitherto seen. 

Not the least pleasant feature of our stay 
in Beyrout was the excursion to the Dog 
River ; a beautiful drive, partly through or- 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 



275 



chards and mulberry groves, partly along the 
beach. 

This was the first opportunity we had had 
to observe the Syrian peasants closely, and 
their appearance and surroundings were in 
marked contrast to that of the Egyptians. 

Physically they are much more prepos- 
sessing, and show but little of that crushed, 
despairing appearance which the bitter struggle 
for existence so early stamps upon the features 
of the Egyptian fellaheen. They wear better 
clothes (and more of them), are better fed, 
and while they doubtless are cruelly taxed, 
they seem cheerful and happy. 

Then, too, they had fat, good-looking horses 
and mules, and wagons too, instead of the 
sorry carts we saw in Egypt. 

They live in substantial houses, dirty enough 
inside I expect, but houses, nevertheless, not 
hovels. Many of these had gardens surround- 
ing them, with here and there flowers bloom- 
ing beneath the windows or clustering about 
the doors. We passed numerous khans, or 
inns, where the native travellers seemed to be 
regaling themselves with some kind of harm- 
less drink, and smoking cigarettes oxnarghilis. 
The land is no better cultivated than in Egypt 



276 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



— I doubt if that is possible, — but the variety of 
products bespeaks a more advanced knowl- 
edge of agriculture. 

Not only are the Syrian men fine specimens 
physically, but they are brave — none more so ; 
and they would be intelligent if they had half 
a chance. I cannot say that we everywhere 
saw such signs of thrift. And I presume that 
the practical protectorate of the Great Powers 
over the Beyrout district has much to do with 
its present prosperity. We met a few beggars 
on the way down, but their hearts were not in 
their business, for they seemed utterly indif- 
ferent as to whether or no we gave them 
any thing. 

In the outskirts of the city we passed the 
famous spot where St. George slew the dragon. 

Having at infinite trouble looked up the 
legend, I give it here in the hope that it may 
save some one the fruitless quest for informa- 
tion on the spot, for no one in Beyrout seemed 
to know who St. George was, or who the dragon 
was, or how England succeeded in getting a 
mortgage on both so very many years ago. 

It seems that St. George was a gentleman 
of leisure residing in Silene, a town of Libya, 
having removed thither from Cappadocia. 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 277 

The legend says that near this town was a 
pond in which lived a most terrible monster, 
general dimensions and characteristics not 
given. His chief weapon of destruction was 
his deadly breath. This was doubtless caused 
by the leeks of Libya. The king of the coun- 
try had on numerous occasions sent out an 
army to destroy him, but without avail. 

Becoming tired of onions, the dragon 
visited the city one day in search of a meat 
diet, but so terrible was his breath that the 
inhabitants whom he chanced to meet were 
poisoned and fell down dead before him. 
Somehow a compromise was effected, and the 
dragon agreed to stay at home and keep his 
breath with him provided he was supplied 
with two sheep each day. All went berry as 
a marriage mell until the supply of sheep was 
exhausted, and then as the result of a new 
deal, the dragon changed his diet to one 
human being and one horse or cow a day. 
There seems to have been no very determined 
opposition to this policy until the lot of sacri- 
fice fell on the king's only daughter. Then 
there was music by the full band. The king 
swore by all the bogus jewels of his crown 
that the maiden should not be eaten. 



278 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



But the people besieged the palace with wild 
shouts, crying out : " Why do you sacrifice 
your subjects to your daughter ? We are all 
dying before the breath of this monster." The 
king yielded, clothed the girl in royal robes, 
and, king-like, sent her forth to her death, 
while he stayed at home to have a little fun with 
the boys. 

As the weeping maiden was wending her 
way sorrowfully towards the lake, who should 
she chance to meet but George, riding along 
as unconcernedly as if there was no man-eating 
monster in all Libya. " Whither away, pretty 
gazelle, and why so sorrowful ? " said Georgie. 
" Behold in me the dragon's choicest break- 
fast morsel," sobbed the maiden. " Holy 
smoke!" shouted G., " I guess not; for I '11 
give his nibs the liveliest ante-prandial bout 
he has had for lo these many days." Scarce 
had he spoken the words, when with a mighty 
roar the dragon was upon them. But George 
was on deck and no mistake. A single thrust 
of his spear and the dragon was pinned to the 
earth, not much injured, but simply spitted. 
With a knightly bow, turning to the princess, 
S. G. said : " Lovely creature, deign to loose 
from that shapely waist thy silken girdle, and 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 279 



pass it round the neck of this frightful monster. 
Fear naught, for in sooth he is harmless as 
a cooing dove." Raising her eyes, soft and 
liquid (like ham gravy), to the radiant features 
of the knight, the princess obeyed his strange 
behest, and together the twain returned to the 
city, the dragon following docile as a little 
lamb. Dismayed and terror-stricken the peo- 
ple fled before the strangely assorted trio, but 
St. George said : " Restez tranquil, veni-vidi- 
vici. See how quiet he is." 

Then to the dragon, who had lain down on 
the pavement to seize a little much needed re- 
pose, he said, giving a yank with the girdle, 
" Come along, Fido." 

Thus they sought the king. 

And St. George told the king that the 
Lord had sent him to deliver them from the 
dragon. So the king and all his people were 
baptized, and then Georgie-Porgie smote off 
the dragon's head. 

We gathered a few scarlet poppies — the 
fields were ablaze with them — from the 
crumbling ruins of the old secret passage or 
sewer, or whatever else it was, and then drove 
on to have our interest actually awakened by 
the sight of the modern works from which the 



280 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

city gets its supply of water. It was built and 
is operated by an American. 

And, by the way, Beyrout is quite an enter- 
prising place. The streets are mostly clean 
and well paved ; the houses generally have a 
substantial appearance, many of them are very 
pleasing to the eye, and the victorias are the 
newest and nicest of any to be found in the 
East. 

To be sure the custom-house regulations 
are villainous, the officials a set of robbers, and 
the hotels very bad, but then the same is true 
of many a more civilized place. 

About seven miles above Beyrout the road 
comes out on to the beach, from which may be 
seen the city, rising picturesquely to the south, 
while to the north the mountains, coming down 
abruptly to the sea, seem to render farther 
progress impossible. And at this point begins 
the famous road, commenced, as the Latin in- 
scription on the rock just opposite the bad 
little cafe informs us, about the year 177 a.d. 
by order of the Emperor, Marcus Aurelius 
Antoninus, who is here called Germanicus. I 
am disposed to think that the road was used 
long before his time, as the famous sculptures 
all face the sea, and from their relative position 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 281 



to each other seem to have fronted originally 
on some great highway. There are nine of 
these sculptures, each graven on a panel, a 
little smaller than an ordinary house door, cut 
in the face of the mountain. Three of them 
are Egyptian, and the other six are alleged to 
be Assyrian. The hieroglyphics of the former 
are tolerably legible, and these record the fact 
that one is dedicated to Ptah, another to Ra, 
while the third gives an account of some of 
the mighty deeds of Rameses II. 

The inscriptions on the six others, if they 
ever contained any, are almost entirely obliter- 
ated. In fact, I was only able to trace the 
outline of the well-known Assyrian figure on 
part of them. As my knowledge of writing as 
practised in the days of Sennacherib is some- 
what faulty, I concluded that what appeared 
to me as the marks on the rocks, worn by cen- 
turies of dripping from above, might possibly 
be Assyrian characters. I am told that these 
sculptures have been the subject of discussions 
most learned by Robinson and others, probably 
Brown and Jones. If any of them are the 
work of Sennacherib it is pretty certain they 
date from the year 701 B.C., when that monarch 
invaded Syria and Palestine ; for, if I remem- 



282 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

ber correctly, after the close of that ill-fated 
expedition, he was n't tarrying by the wayside 
to do any stone-cutting. Whatever the origin 
of these pictures, isolated as they are, hundreds 
of miles from any other monuments erected by 
these great conquerors, they are specially im- 
pressive as showing the tremendous distances 
travelled by the mighty ones of antiquity in 
search of new worlds to subdue. 

I find the following interesting note in one 
of the guide-books : " There have recently 
been discovered at Balawat, in Mesopotamia, 
two large portals containing in bas-relief a de- 
scription of the conquests of Sennacherib, and 
one of these bas-reliefs represents the Assyrian 
conqueror halting at the Dog River to erect 
the monument of his victories which has been 
here preserved to us." 

The road beneath the sculptured rocks 
here reminds one forcibly of portions of the 
road from Nice to Monte Carlo, washed by 
the same blue waters so many hundred miles 
away. 

But nowhere does the latter road in its 
entire length along the Riviera cross a gorge 
so wildly beautiful as that through which the 
Dog River comes tumbling into the sea. 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 283 



Small wonder that Rameses and Sennach- 
erib, Germanicus and Napoleon, following one 
another past this romantic spot, centuries 
separating them, yet all filled with the thirst 
of conquest, that passion of the human heart 
which countless centuries can never eradicate, 
impelling each one in his turn, forgetting for 
the moment his own importance in contempla- 
tion of the Supreme Being, the evidences of 
whose handiwork were about on every side, 
and haunted by that spectre, the " Fear of 
Oblivion," which has stood, and will stand, 
beside the great ones of earth till time shall 
be no more, should have inscribed upon these 
living rocks, which would forever look out 
upon the sea, somewhat of their story and 
achievements. 

It was a pity that we had not taken an 
entire day, that we might have explored the 
wild beauties of the glen. 

We were obliged, however, after a most 
interesting inspection of the inscriptions, to 
regale ourselves with a very small cup of 
coffee at a very large price, and start for 
home. 

I say " obliged," because all the hack-drivers 
seem to be " cahoots " with the cafe-keepers. 



284 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



No matter where you go, or at what time, 
if you get out of your carriage, you are pretty 
sure to be assaulted by some one with a 
battery of coffee-cups loaded with very bad 
Turkish coffee. We found, by experience, 
that whether we took one cup or four, the 
price was always the same, five cents a per- 
son ; an exorbitant charge, quantity and qual- 
ity considered. 

I imagine the grounds in the coffee at Dog 
River have done duty for excursionists ever 
since the day of Rameses, for the frugal 
Syrian housewife certainly set away the cups 
we had used, grounds and all, without the 
formality of washing. 

The Dog River (Nahr-el-Kelb) rises in the 
Sannin, and is a considerable stream. The 
name is said to have originated in a legend 
which relates that thousands of years ago the 
genius of the place fashioned one of the rocks 
into the semblance of a gigantic dog, whose 
duty it was to watch over the river and shore, 
and whenever an enemy appeared, to sound 
an alarm by barking. 

The legend does not inform us who the 
alarm was intended to arouse, for aside from 
the old apple-woman who vends the villainous 



BEYROUT, ST. GEORGE, AND THE DOG RIVER. 285 



coffee, I don't believe any other creature has 
ever resided within hailing or howling dis- 
tance of the river. About those sculptures 
which have so perplexed Brown, Jones, and 
Robinson, I think that much light might be 
thrown upon the subject if they could only be 
inspected by the female members of Emma 
Abbott's Opera Company as they appeared in 
" Semiramide " ; for they certainly were old 
enough to have been contemporaneous with 
the famous Assyrian queen, and are doubtless 
well versed in the lore of that somewhat dis- 
tant period. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE AEGEAN ISLANDS. 

Thursday morning dawned cloudy and 
windy. And now came our first real trouble. 
The Venus was crowded ; and for the seven 
who had been planning the Holy-Land trip, 
but two places remained untaken on the ship ! 

After numerous consultations, two journeys 
to the steamer " to see how things looked," 
four visits to the Company's office to see if 
an addition could n't be built to the craft, or 
some other mode of relief suggested, it was 
finally decided to 1 'chance" it. Three were 
stowed away in the second cabin, and two 
hired the second officer's stateroom at a sum 
equal to what the company paid him for a 
month's services ! 

These were princely apartments compared 
with those secured by a young Englishman 
and his bride. They had " numbers 3 and 4 
in a stateroom together." But when they 

286 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE ^GEAN ISLANDS. 287 



arrived on board and found " numbers 3 and 
4 " were in the bath-room they were simply 
paralyzed. 

I wish I could be as unconcerned, ever, as 
the purser was when the infuriated groom 
wanted to know what this meant and what 
the company proposed to do. In broken 
English he was told that they had evidently 
marked the diagrams of some other steamer 
at the office, but he did n't propose to do any 
thing. The fond couple could do one of three 
things : sleep in the bath-tub, camp out in the 
cabin, or wait for the next steamer ! 

How the wind did blow that night, although 
the weather was clear ! And how the throng on 
the deck did thin out, driven below by the cold 
wind, nominally, but in reality by that deadly 
sensation once experienced, never forgotten ! 

How bravely I sat on deck until every one 
else had gone — not daring to move ; until, 
nearly frozen, I plunged down the companion- 
way and into my berth without going through 
the formality of undressing ! 

But the dreadful night came to an end, and 
morning found us riding at anchor off the 
island of Cyprus. Although the sea was tem- 
pestuous, we decided to go on shore. 



288 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



The island, which now contains about 200,- 
000 souls, orignally numbered ten times as 
many. What they could have done is a mys- 
tery to me, for if any greater number than at 
present were ever engaged in the manufacture 
of wine, for which the island in some unac- 
countable way seems to have been famous, 
they would certainly have drawn down on 
their devoted heads the just vengeance of all 
the surrounding nations who happened to have 
imbibed the vile compound. The grapes are 
said to be magnificent, and here the Madeira 
vine was first propagated. But the wine con- 
tains a very strong infusion of tar, said to come 
from the coating of the vessels in which it 
is kept, and consequently the taste is tarible 
(copyright). 

Perhaps the island derives its name from 
" Kvnpos" (Greek,) " copper," excellent mines of 
which were worked by the ancients ; possibly 
from the shrub " nvnpos" the modern " henna": 
" You pays your money and takes your choice." 

On the coast of the island, off Paphos, is the 
mythological spot where Venus is said to have 
sprung from the foam of the sea ; and every 
year some kind of a festival is there held in 
commemoration of the event. 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE yEGEAN ISLANDS. 289 

History tells us that it used to be famous 
for its great wealth, its wonderful armor (a 
suit of which " Demetrius the Sacker of Cities " 
wore at the siege of Rhodes, which he did n't 
capture), its vast commerce, its valiant armies, 
its great advancement in the arts and sciences. 

This may all have been, but after we had 
landed, and waited at a little Greek restaurant 
in the capital city of Larnica, one hour and a 
quarter for a very modest breakfast of ham 
and eggs, at a very large price, I am skeptical 
in regard to all these former glories. 

Our hunger but illy appeased, we strolled 
through the town and tried to buy some an- 
tiquities of doubtful authenticity. 

Richard the Lion-hearted once captured the 
island because the people had insulted his fair- 
haired beautiful queen, Berengaria ; made her 
a present of some wine, doubtless, but he soon 
tired of the dubious title of " King of Cyprus," 
and turned the island over, wine and all, to 
Guy de Lusignan. 

Some scholars have argued most learnedly 
to prove that the island is mentioned some- 
where in the Bible, but I don't see that it 
makes much difference whether it is or not. 

The English now practically own Cyprus, 
19 



290 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



but have agreed to give it back to Turkey 
when Russia restores certain portions of Ar- 
menia to the Sublime Porte, a contingency 
about as likely to happen as is a certain warm 
locality, of which we have often heard but do 
not care to visit, likely to freeze over. 

By far the most interesting thing concerning 
Cyprus to me is the magnificent collection of 
antiquities made by General Cesnola. 

As this is on exhibition at the Metropolitan 
Museum in New York, where it can be seen 
without the trouble or expense of a trip to the 
island, my advice to travellers is to give 
Cyprus no more time than the few hours 
during which the steamer lies at anchor in the 
roadstead of Larnica. 

In the Greek church of St. Lazarus we were 
shown the tomb of the brother of Mary and 
Martha. At Marseilles we were told that 
Lazarus was not buried at Larnica ; that he 
merely died there, and his remains were en- 
tombed at Marseilles ; while still others claim 
that he did n't die at Larnica, was n't buried 
at Marseilles, but ended his life at some point 
in Northern France. 

As the Bible makes no mention of Lazarus 
after the time of his resurrection, my opinion 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE ^GEAN ISLANDS. 291 



is entitled to as much credence as that of any 
other ignoramus, and I contend that if he ever 
visited Larnica and stayed overnight he did 
die there — starved to death. 

The town is appropriately named — " Lar- 
nax" signifying " coffin," for it is about the 
deadest place I ever saw. I went to the post- 
office to buy some stamps, and was informed 
that the postmaster had been there the day 
before, and would n't be in again for a week. 
He had probably gone to the interior in search 
of something to eat. 

In the village of Kiti, about six miles from 
Larnica, is said to be a fine Greek Church 
containing a magnificent iccmostatis. I had 
never met an iconostatis ; nobody on the ship 
or in the town seemed to know what it was, 
and feeling convinced it could not be an 
article of food, while possibly it might be an 
infernal machine, I decided not to put my life 
at hazard by going to look at it. 

About four o'clock we started, the wind 
blowing almost a gale, the Venus pitching 
fearfully, the screw revolving in the air half 
the time with a velocity which threatened to 
tear the machinery to pieces. At eleven o'clock 
the engines suddenly stopped, and we could 



292 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



feel the ship fall off till she lay helpless in the 
trough of the sea. 

I cannot describe the dreadful sensation 
which at sea instantly flashes over one with 
the knowledge that something is wrong, nor 
do I think one ever feels his own utter help- 
lessness and insignificance so overpoweringly 
as during a storm on the great deep. I 
listened breathlessly for the terrible cry of 
fire, or the hasty warning to get up and dress. 
As neither came, I concluded the accident 
could not be very serious. However, Squire 
D. and I dressed hastily and went on deck, 
where we found that the crew had hoisted the 
foresail and jib, and the vessel, being hove to, 
was more steady. The captain was peacefully 
smoking. He informed us that a small steam- 
pipe had given out, but would be repaired 
shortly. 

We superintended the repairs through the 
skylight, and, when all was right, turned in 
again, feeling, not without reason, that our 
friends had cause to be thankful for our vigi- 
lance. All the next day the wind blew a gale, 
but the following morning we anchored in the 
placid waters off Rhodes, and, though we 
knew it not, our troubles by sea were at an end. 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE /EGEAN ISLANDS. 



293 



The island of Rhodes is interesting chiefly 
on account of the very important part it has 
played in history for so many centuries. We 
were much interested in those relics of medi- 
aeval times, when the famous Knights of St. 
John made this their home, and from Rhodes 
as a base conducted those predatory excursions 
which finally brought down upon them the ven- 
geance of the Turks, and ended in their ruin. 

They were a doughty band of freebooters, in 
sooth, maintaining a most precarious existence 
here in the East, far from their native land. 

And they were doubtless guilty of many an 
act of cruelty and outrage. But as we wan- 
dered up the Street of the Knights, and saw 
embedded in the walls to the right and to the 
left the marble slabs emblazoned with the 
armorial bearings of many of the most dis- 
tinguished houses of mediaeval Europe, we 
could not but admire the wonderful courage 
and wild spirit of adventure which animated 
these warriors when leaving their pleasant 
princely possessions for a dangerous foothold 
on this rugged island. 

But the day of reckoning came at last, and 
notwithstanding an heroic defence which has 
few parallels in the history of the world for 



294 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



dauntless bravery, conquered by hunger, de- 
feated but not disgraced, they embarked on 
board their ships and sailed away to Malta, 
with their spirits unbroken, their arms unsul- 
lied, and their courage as lofty and invincible 
as ever. Ruined walls and mighty fortresses, 
with here and there some fragments which 
still retain, after three hundred and seventy- 
five years, the imprints of former magnificence, 
tell the straggling traveller of to-day who 
visits this desolate place, of the times when 
mailed sentries paced these bastions, ever 
watchful for the return of the fleet galleys 
laden with the spoils of many a captured 
town ; of the days when the paved streets 
re-echoed sharply with the clang of armed 
heels, and everywhere was heard the tinkling 
of golden spurs. 

In my ardent search after knowledge I de- 
termined, if possible, to ascertain the origin of 
the name of each island and country we visited. 
But I stopped when we struck Rhodes. Some 
authorities claim the origin of the name in the 
Greek " podov" " a rose," and point to the 
rose upon the reverse of the ancient coins. 
Ritter maintains that this flower is not a rose, 
but a lotus. Another authority says the name 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE vEGEAN ISLANDS. 295 

is of Phoenician origin and signifies " snake" — 
"snake island." While still another, the most 
pleasing of all, says the name is derived from 
Rhodus, the daughter of Neptune, who was 
here wedded by the Sun J 

I have had such difficulty in ascertaining 
any facts regarding the Colossus that the little 
I have learned may be news to some. 

It was a statue of Helios (the Sun or 
Apollo), erected 300 B.C., and was the work of 
Chares, a pupil of Lysippus, who labored on 
it twelve years. It was made of brass, 105 
Grecian feet in height, cast hollow, the* cavities 
filled with large stones to keep it steady on its 
pedestal. The face must have been very beau- 
tiful, as it is said to have been the same as one 
sees upon the ancient coins. Few persons 
could span the thumb with their arms extended, 
and each finger was larger than an ordinary 
statue. Within was a winding staircase extend- 
ing to the top of the head, from whence Syria 
could be seen as well as the fleets returning 
from many a foreign shore. 

It cost upwards of $300,000, an enormous 
sum for those times, and weighed in the 
neighborhood of 750,000 pounds. 

It is not known whence arose the belief that 



296 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

it stood with legs extended, one foot resting 
on either side of the entrance to the harbor, 
but as the feet could not have been over 
seventeen yards apart, and the entrance to 
the harbor was and is over three hundred feet 
wide, ihe only probable fact as to its position 
is that it may have stood at the entrance to 
the inner harbor. 

The money with which it was built came 
from the sale of the military engines which 
Demetrius Poliorcetes used when he besieged 
Rhodes, and which he gave to the Rhodians 
for their gallant defence of the city. 

It stood but fifty-six years before it was 
thrown down by an earthquake, and although 
many liberal contributions were sent from 
various friendly powers for the purpose of 
repairing it, the thrifty Rhodians declared that 
the oracle at Delphi had forbidden them to 
raise it again, but had not forbidden them to 
keep the money — which they did. Pliny says 
there were a hundred other colossi in various 
parts of the city. 

Turkish rule here as elsewhere bears its in- 
evitable fruits — ignorance, superstition, degra- 
dation, misery. And the only gleam in the 
dark picture is the refusal of the Porte to 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE vEGEAN ISLANDS. 297 



allow the graven tablets, melancholy souvenirs 
of former princely owners, to be removed from 
the walls and carried off by vandals and relic 
hunters. 

There is some sort of a prison here, and 
the prisoners, poor fellows, amuse themselves 
making of olive, lemon, and orange woods, 
match-boxes, cigarette-cases, and canes, which 
are sold on the steamer for little or nothing. 
They are more curious than beautiful, but 
serve very well as mementos. The island 
suffers greatly from earthquakes, and the many 
arches thrown across the streets to prevent 
the buildings from being shaken down add 
much to the picturesqueness of the place. 

In many of the houses the curious pave- 
ments, wrought in various designs of small, 
smooth white and black stones, are preserved 
intact. It was a novel sight, these mosaics 
in the second stories, imparting, as they did, 
an air of stability to the houses quite at 
variance with the exteriors. 

We were told that a trip through the island 
would be " interesting " ; probably to the 
people among whom, in that event, we would 
spend our money. The island is, for the 
most part, uncultivated, the scenery rugged, 



298 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

and although the soil with proper tillage 
would, in places, produce abundantly, the 
people seem to care only to get enough to 
eat and drink. 

The Rhodian "hindos," or plates, ol which 
we had heard so much, are about the most 
grotesquely ugly things in the shape of crock- 
ery it has ever been my misfortune to see. 
The manufacture of these plates is said to 
have been introduced at some unknown period 
of the middle ages by refugees from Persia. 
If they were n't driven out of Persia for mak- 
ing these hideous things there they ought to 
have been. They (the plates, not the refu- 
gees) seem to be a cross between those dread- 
ful majolica platters so fashionable a few years 
ago, and an American amateur's first attempt 
at China decoration. The prices asked for 
them are simply preposterous, but, like every 
thing else, no matter what the the price, they 
seem to " go " with the average tourist. 

The peasants are said to be so extremely 
hospitable that they never take pay for any 
refreshments. I did not see any of these 
strange beings, but I am told that a wealthy 
syndicate of English capitalists have formed 
a trust to buy them all up for the purpose 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE /EGEAN ISLANDS. 299 



of exhibiting them in the United States. 
Any thing in the shape of a human being 
from Paris to the Pyramids who won't take 
from a traveller all he can get his hands on, 
will be a greater curiosity than was ever the 
wonderful Colossus. 

The population of the island is about 
25,000. After leaving Rhodes the islands 
are so numerous that nothing short of a 
hurricane can make the sea sufficiently vio- 
lent to render travel at all uncomfortable. 

First, on the right was pointed out the little 
island of Syme, famous for its sponge-fisher- 
ies. Then to the left we saw the island of 
Cos, where once was a beautiful city. Here 
Apelles was born. And in the celebrated 
temple of yEsculapius outside the walls, filled 
with many rare and costly art treasures, were 
two works of the great painter, the Antigonus, 
and V enus Anadyomene. The latter picture 
Augustus carried off to Rome and consecrated 
it to Julius Caesar, allowing the Coans, in lieu 
of it, a hundred talents, or about a hundred 
and twenty thousand dollars, which would be 
an equivalent of over half a million dollars 
in our day. Here also lived and flourished 
Hippocrates, the first physician of antiquity. 



300 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Opposite Cos, upon the gulf of the same 
name, we saw the shores of Caria, where was 
once the famous city of Halicarnassus. 

Here were born Herodotus and Dionysius, 
and Heraclitus the poet. And here Artemi- 
sia erected to the memory of her husband 
and brother Mausolus, 2,200 years ago, that 
splendid tomb, one of the seven wonders of 
the world, called after him the Mausoleum. 
Broken-hearted she lived to see it completed, 
and then, with the mournful satisfaction that 
his name would be famous for all time, she 
lay down and died. 

Then we came to Astypalaea, called by the 
ancients the " Table of the Gods," because the 
soil was so fertile, and because wild flowers 
bloomed everywhere. 

The night was bright and beautiful, but no 
one had sufficient enthusiasm to stay on deck 
till one o'clock to see the island of Patmos off 
to the west. There is a monastery here, and 
the grotto where St. John is supposed to have 
written the Apocalypse. Early next morning 
we passed to the west of Samos, in ancient 
times one of the most famous of the Ionian 
Isles. Its people were renowned mariners, 
and its fleet and well-manned galleys decided 



CYPRUS, RHODES, AND THE vEGEAN ISLANDS. 301 

many a doubtful contest in the days when 
Greeks and Persians were struggling for 
supremacy in these historic waters. 

The temple of Juno at Samos, of great 
antiquity, was, in the days of Strabo, one of 
the most magnificent in all the East. Within 
were masterpieces of many celebrated painters, 
while the outside was adorned with the most 
beautiful statues that money could purchase 
or diplomacy secure. The Samoans were no 
mean engineers, for Herodotus describes a 
tunnel nearly a mile long, cut through a 
mountain for the purpose of supplying the 
city with delicious spring-water. They also 
had a mole in their harbor a hundred and 
twenty feet deep and twelve hundred feet long. 

At Chios we made our first stop. Murray 
says that Chios, the ancient Scio, " is the most 
beautiful, the most fertile, the richest, and the 
most sorely afflicted island in the ^Egean Sea." 
No opportunity was given us to land, but a 
few of the natives came aboard with the 
crudest kind of earthen vases filled with mastic. 
We had heard of this famous gum, the delight 
of the Turkish ladies ; so we bought some 
and proceeded to chew. The taste is rather 
agreeable, but the houris of the harem must 



302 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



have iron jaws if they can chew it for any 
length of time. In five minutes it becomes 
about as hard as vulcanized rubber, in five 
more it attains the consistency of asphalt 
pavement, and, when finally " set," it is about 
like adamant. 

The Sultan is a shrewd man to encourage 
the chewing of mastic, for, after his numerous 
wives have indulged in this harmless pastime 
for ten minutes, their jaws are certainly too 
tired for them to attempt much conversation. 

The island has suffered terribly both from 
earthquakes and invasions, but, as the soil is 
wonderfully fertile and the inhabitants a 
superior class of Greeks, it has generally 
recovered with marvellous rapidity from its 
dreadful devastations. 

The Scian wine, of which both Virgil and 
Horace speak so frequently, is absolutely a 
tradition of the past, and it is no mean evi- 
dence of the intelligence of the present popu- 
lation that they do not try to " bank " on this 
venerable reputation of antiquity. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 

The ride from Chios to Smyrna was simply 
perfect. The day was clear and warm, no 
wind blowing, and for once the waters of the 
treacherous Mediterranean looked beautifully 
blue. The cultivated slopes of the mountain 
sides were beginning to show signs of spring 
vegetation, that peculiar and indescribable 
shade of green which is seen alone in the early 
spring. A few fishing-boats were drifting 
about here and there, the sails flapping idly 
against the masts, while the crews were doubt- 
less praying for that wind whose absence was 
such a blessing to us. About noon we rounded 
the cape which forms the southern coast of 
the Gulf of Smyrna, so near that I feared we 
would take a slice off it, and entered the broad 
bay, on the eastern side of which lies the 
ancient city of Smyrna, extending far up on 
the hill-side, dimly seen through the warm haze. 

303 



304 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



The steamer skirts the southern side of the 
bay on account of the shoals in the centre, I 
am told. And now occurred an incident like 
the many which enter into the experience of 
every traveller, which I may be pardoned for 
relating, as Smyrna is twenty miles away. 

There is always on every steamer at least 
one person who knows it all, and generally 
this person is one who has never made the 
trip before. Steamship travel is not conducive 
to study, and as it is the rule among travellers 
to "read up" after they leave a place instead 
of before arriving, the fellow who has energy 
enough to post up a little on the sly has a 
splendid opportunity to air his guide-book 
information without fear of detection at the 
time. We had with us a genial doctor from 
Tennessee who was proof against sea-sickness 
and an indefatigable sight-seer and student, 
but, I grieve to say, his information was not 
always reliable. He was the Ulysses of this 
ship's company, but there was nothing offensive 
about his wisdom. 

He came on deck as we rounded the cape, 
fresh from his cabin researches, and delivered 
himself as follows : " You see that snow-clad 
peak?" pointing to the northeast; "well, that 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



305 



is Mount Ararat, seventeen thousand feet high, 
where Noah's ark rested." This was rather 
startling, as none of us had ever heard that 
Mount Ararat was visible from the Mediter- 
ranean. 

" Is n't that a mistake, Doctor?" I thought 
Ararat was in Persia, and it must be three 
hundred miles from here." This brought out 
the maps of Asia Minor and a few measure- 
ments, by which it appeared that Mount 
Ararat must be seven hundred and fifty miles 
away, if the maps were correct. But the 
doctor would not give in. " Probably the 
maps are not correct ; then you see Ararat is 
a very high mountain." At this George H. 
got out that stub of a pencil he was always 
losing, borrowed a piece of paper from some 
one, and commenced to figure. The result 
was announced as follows, directed to no one 
in particular, but it exploded under the doctor, 
metaphorically, like a charge of dynamite : 
" Mount Ararat, to be visible at a distance of 
seven hundred and fifty miles to a person at 
sea-level, would have to be sixty-five miles 

high.- 

We reached Smyrna without further inci- 
dent or information. 

20 



306 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

Smyrna was a disappointment in almost 
every respect excepting the custom-house 
regulations and the quay, built by the French 
company. If any thing remains of the ancient 
city, nothing of interest attaches to it. The 
tomb of St. Polycarp, a gentleman of whom I 
had never before heard, is located on one of 
the hills near by, but we were not looking for 
tombs during our short stay ; bazaars were 
what we were after. 

We went ashore as soon as the steamer came 
to anchor, hired carriages and drove around 
the town over the worst pavements I have ever 
seen. The quarters of the city occupied by 
different nationalities were pointed out to us — 
Jewish, Armenian, Greek, and European, — 
each one less interesting than the preceding, 
although a glimpse here and there through 
open doors showed signs of luxury within. 

Most of the houses had iron shutters down- 
stairs, except in the European quarter, where 
we saw many familiar-looking window-blinds. 

There are no sidewalks in the city, and the 
gutter is usually in the middle of the street, 
economizing space at the cost of comfort. 
We met many children coming from school, 
almost all of them bareheaded. 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



307 



The ladies do their hair up in a classic knot 

and tie it with gay-colored ribbons, the only 

thing- classic about the town that I could dis- 
cs 

cover. And when we saw a girl leering out 
of a second-story bay-window, of which there 
are hundreds in the town, her hair done up in 
curl-papers, we concluded that civilization was 
making rapid strides in the East. 

The public landaus are new and excellent, 
and we saw the finest camels we had seen any- 
where. They were short-legged, with large 
bodies well rounded, good heads and faces, 
and their necks covered with a beautiful coat 
of fine hair. I was skeptical on the subject of 
camel's-hair rugs and shawls till I saw these 
fellows, for there is n't hair enough on all the 
camels in Egypt to make a wash-rag — I be- 
lieve in them now. 

We saw where the bazaars were. To-morrow 
we would make our descent on them. 

The government palace is a fine modern 
building, and there are some other creditable 
public edifices. The most civilized feature 
about the city, however, consists of a series of 
improvements made by a French company 
under a concession from the Sublime Porte 
some years ago. Formerly the harbor was 



308 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

only an open roadstead, with no protection to 
shipping against the west wind, the sea-front 
of the town being a miserable beach covered 
with old tumble-down buildings and disreputa- 
ble resorts for sailors. In an unexpected mo- 
ment of lucidity the government granted to a 
French company the exclusive right to con- 
struct docks and piers, to build a quay on the 
town front, and a street railroad. The privi- 
lege was to be for fifty years, at the expiration 
of which term the grant and improvements 
revert to the government. The work was 
done as Frenchmen generally do such work, 
and enough reclaimed land sold along the 
front to more than pay the entire cost. 

The finest residences of the city are on the 
quay, and every team and person using the 
pier or wharves pays tribute to these plucky 
Frenchmen, who came to this far distant land 
and discovered here the veritable golden fleece. 

When we finished our dinner we decided to 
revisit the town and see some of its wicked 
features, for we had heard much of the cafes, 
with their good music and pretty girls. We 
wandered up and down the quay from eight till 
about nine o'clock, waiting for the shows to com- 
mence. At the latter hour we came to anchor 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



309 



in the gorgeous hall of the " Odeon," and in 
company with a few other mournful-looking 
pleasure-seekers, waited for the wickedness to 
show itself. The orchestra, twenty pieces, 
consisted mainly of young ladies, who played 
indifferently well for a few minutes at a time, 
then spent half an hour or so, between pieces, 
sauntering around among the lonely guests 
trying to drum up business for the bar, called 
by courtesy the " wine room ! " We ordered 
coffee some, and some beer, assaulted the 
young lady of Bohemian extraction who waited 
upon us with a volley of villainous French, 
wondering when the show was to commence. 
After waiting for an hour or so and ordering 
another " round," we ascertained through the 
medium of our aforesaid French that there 
would be no performance that night, beyond 
the music ! 

With a feeling of sadness we strayed out 
into the street, allured hither and thither by 
the sound of music from many instruments, 
but nowhere did we see any thing not emi- 
nently proper, with not even enough of wick- 
edness about it to make it interesting. 

So we started back for the ship. It is neces- 
sary every time you land or embark or turn 



310 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



round at or in a Turkish town, to show your 
Turkish passport. Ours were in proper form, 
and yet, when we " tried the narrow pass," 
we were brought to a standstill. In vain we 
protested ; something evidently was wrong. 
Finally, we were made to understand that 
George and I could pass, but Lew must stay. 
The agonizing scene which would surely be 
enacted on shipboard should we return with- 
out Lew rose instantly before my mind. He 
must be rescued at all hazards. By dint of a 
great many gesticulations, comparisons of pass- 
ports, with such other expedients as suggested 
themselves for an interview where conversa- 
tion was barred, we found that Lew's passport 
did not bear the requisite revenue stamp. We 
pointed out the place where it had been stuck 
on as an evidence of its previous use, but in 
vain ; no stamp, no Lew. 

I shuddered as I thought of a pair of big 
blue eyes even then peering over the rail of 
the quarter-deck in search of Lew ; it was 
already long past his bedtime. Then as by 
an inspiration I thought of the possibility of 
the stamp being in his pocket-book. A hasty 
examination revealed it, having rubbed off ; 
and so our comrade was saved. 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



311 



Next morning bright and early we were on 
shore with our guide, ready for an assault on 
the unsuspecting bazaar-keepers. Bargaining 
would be an easy matter here, we said, after 
our apprenticeship in Damascus and Cairo. 
Smyrna rugs we had heard of often ; Smyrna 
rugs we would buy, and in Smyrna. The rug 
stores were shown us, and the rugs ; quality 
good, prices exorbitant it seemed to us. We 
made the usual offer of one half the asking 
price, whereat the shopkeepers in some cases 
stared at us without a word, in others they 
simply giggled, much to our annoyance, for it 
seemed a little as if they were poking fun at 
us in a quiet way, — at us who had thoroughly 
mastered all the intricacies of Oriental commer- 
cial intercourse. Well, for all our anxiety, we 
did n't get a single rug. We tried all the arti- 
fices known to us ; we recounted our exploits 
in Cairo and Damascus, and then, as a final 
argument, we all twelve filed solemnly out, ex- 
pecting at every step to be called back for fur- 
ther parleying. But the store-keepers simply 
looked at us in a listless way as we made our 
most freezing adieux, wondering perhaps from 
what lunatic asylum we had escaped, — with our 
offers of $10.00 for a $50.00 rug. 



312 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



We succeeded in picking up a few trinkets 
and some alleged embroidery of cunning 
workmanship ; but I shall always believe that, 
for all our shrewdness, we paid nearly double 
what every thing was worth, except the figs and 
raisins. At noon we started for Constanti- 
nople, weather beautiful, and the steamer re- 
lieved of many passengers who went from 
Smyrna direct to Athens. 

The trip from Smyrna to Ephesus, forty- 
eight miles, requires half a day by special 
train ; fare about $5.00. We wanted to make 
the excursion, but were fearful of some delay, 
causing us to lose the steamer. 

We stopped about dark at the beautiful 
little city of Mytilene, on the ancient island of 
Lesbos, and the C's (excepting the children) 
and ourselves went ashore. We had two 
hours and a half, and the captain told us he 
would blow the whistle fifteen minutes before 
the steamer started. It was nearly dark when 
we reached the quay, but we strolled along 
looking in at the windows of the little shops 
until we finally came to anchor in a dry-goods 
store, and naturally relapsed into our inter- 
rupted occupation of buying embroidery. 
Thirty minutes thus elapsed, when suddenly 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



313 



Mrs. George exclaimed, with a start, " the 
boy-ees ! " We looked around, but not seeing 
them anywhere, we naturally inquired the 
cause of the alarm. Well, in a moment of 
absent-mindedness, it seems, Mrs. George had 
consented to come away without them. What 
could she have been thinking of ? How could 
she have been so derelict in her duty towards 
them ? Perhaps at this very moment they 
were struggling in the chilling waters, having 
fallen overboard, and she not there either to 
rescue them or at least to superintend the 
rescue. 

She must return to the steamer immediately. 
It was pointed out to her, in impeachment of 
this decision, that we still had two hours to 
wander about the town, a blessed change from 
the ship, but she was immovable ; the boys 
needed her, of this she was confident. Taking 
the most cheerful view of the case, and grant- 
ing that they were still on the ship, they 
might have fallen down the hatchway and 
been seriously injured — you have heard of the 
futility of reasoning with a woman. Well, we 
went back to the ship. Every thing seemed 
to be serene. We mounted the stairway and 
there were the boys in their usual health amid 



3H HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

the idlers at the gangway ; the maternal anxi- 
ety gave vent to the following : " Boy-ees, are 
you all right?" Master Henry, hardened 
doubtless by the oft recurrence of the formula, 
maintained a scornful silence (he had been very 
anxious to accompany us), but George, think- 
ing that respect demanded an answer, replied, 
with the least tinge of sarcasm : " Well, we 
have managed to hang on to the steamer 
while you have been away." 

We left Mytilene regretfully. It certainly 
looked like a beautiful spot, very fertile and 
boasting of many beautiful houses. It is said 
to contain a Christian population of nearly a 
hundred thousand, in addition to the small 
sprinkling of Mohammedans who still live 
here. Vainly we listened, in the hush of the 
evening, for some strain of the music which, 
in the days of Arion and Terpander, Alcaeus 
and Sappho, rendered the island more famous 
than any in the Archipelago. 

The same beautiful weather, and the next 
morning found us at Tenedos. Of all localities 
rendered famous by the writings of great au- 
thors, no spot on earth can compare with the 
glamour thrown about the Troad by the peer- 
less power of the " Blind Man of Scio's Rocky 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



315 



Isle." In the clear light of the early morn we 
could distinctly see the plains of Troy only a 
few miles away, with the mound of Ajax rising 
in the midst. And here was Tenedos, whither 
the baffled Grecian fleet withdrew to watch 
the result of their last artifice, that of the 
wooden horse, the crowning attempt to ac- 
complish by stratagem what they had so sig- 
nally failed to effect vi et armis. It was a 
noble site for a mighty city, this entrance to 
the Dardanelles, and so vividly arose before 
me Homer's pictures of what transpired here, 
that I could almost fancy I saw the hosts mar- 
shalling on the Scamander plain to do battle 
to-day, as for ten years every day they battled 
so valiantly. Reluctantly must every student 
of the classics leave unvisited this charmed 
locality. As we steamed up the Dardanelles 
the ride was replete with interest ; the history 
of ages seemed to cluster about this one small 
portion of the earth's mighty surface. On the 
right, near the entrance, were the Sigean and 
Rhcetian promontories, where Homer says the 
Grecian galleys were drawn up and fortified 
during the Trojan war ; not far from here 
Sylla and Mithridates patched up a truce ; a 
little farther to the north was the city of Dar- 



316 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

danus, older even than Troy, founded by Dar- 
danus, the son of Jupiter and Electra. Then 
we reached the narrowest place, a mile across, 
both sides bristling with innumerable cannon. 

Over this narrow reach of water Xerxes 
swung his pontoon bridge, while from the 
high ground in the rear he proudly watched 
his army pass ; here the army of Phillip 
crossed, under the leadership of Parmenio 
and Attalus. 

Hero swam across at this point, a feat often 
accomplished since by many swimmers, from 
Lord Byron down to lusty fellows to fame un- 
known. 

Here, the faithful say, the green banner of 
Osman was planted by Suleiman in the year 
1360. 

Beyond, on the Thracian side, was Sestos, 
once a city of great importance in the hands of 
the Athenians ; opposite, Abydos, a famous 
city in the time of Philip of Macedon, but ren- 
dered immortal in the beautiful poem of 
Byron ; next, we passed the course of the 
mountain torrent known as the river Granicus, 
where Alexander, with an army of 35,000, de- 
feated the Persian hosts, who outnumbered 
him ten to one. 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPHORUS. 



317 



A little farther up, on the other side, is a 
small stream, JEgos Potamos, " Goat River," 
where the Spartan admiral, Lysander, totally 
defeated the Athenian fleet in a pitched battle, 
405 B.C., which completely destroyed the power 
of Athens, and resulted in the capture of the 
city. 

As we landed nowhere in the Dardanelles, 
and as we were spared the infliction of beg- 
gars, guides, wandering merchants, and all 
kindred nuisances, it was delightful to sit un- 
disturbed upon the deck and recall the mo- 
mentous scenes that had been here enacted. 
Better the present desolation of the plain of 
Troy, for instance, uninhabited, where the im- 
agination has at least some opportunity to call 
back the vanished hosts of " Long-haired Ar- 
gives," and valiant sons of Ilium, than the 
howling, fighting mob which surrounded us 
during our visit to the Pyramids. 

That noon we stopped for a few minutes at 
the military station of the Dardanelles, while 
one of the officers went through some prepos- 
terous formula required by this bigoted gov- 
ernment. A venturesome merchant came on 
board with some of the toughest-looking 
pottery I ever saw, wrought in the most fan- 



318 HOW. WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



tastic shapes of impossible cows and cats. 
But they "went" with the pilgrims, the en- 
deavor of each being to get something as little 
repulsive as possible. 

That evening we stopped for a short time at 
the dirty wooden city of Gallipoli, and took on 
some vegetables and other unimportant freight 
for Constantinople. The city has about forty 
thousand inhabitants, mostly Jews of an ex- 
tremely unenterprising type. 

The same night we steamed over the placid 
waters of the Sea of Marmora. 

Our delightful trip, which should have had 
a glorious climax when we sighted the "gilded 
domes and lofty minarets " of Constantinople, 
proved now a dismal disappointment — and lest 
I should seem prejudiced in what I am about 
to say regarding Constantinople, I assert that 
I was predisposed to be delighted with every- 
thing I saw. I had accepted, without question, 
all the glowing accounts of the Golden Horn, 
and the ancient capital of the proud Byzantine 
Empire, which so many travellers seem to think 
it incumbent upon themselves to give to the 
public. My slight misunderstanding with the 
Turkish government while at Beyrout did not 
rankle in my bosom. A raw wind was blow- 



\ 



SMYRNA AND THE BOSPKORUS. 



319 



ing and it threatened rain. The sun was hid- 
den, and the "gilded domes" consequently 
failed to flash in the sunlight. The scene as 
we approached the Golden Horn was certainly 
very animated ; many steamers, great and 
small ; some sailing vessels ; many row-boats, 
some of them the traditional caiques, cer- 
tainly very picturesque, but the majority of 
them very modern-looking ordinary yawls. 

The city has been so often and so vividly 
described that I will say this, in deference to 
those who have been so enthusiastic, that in 
the early summer, when the foliage is fully out, 
and the air soft and balmy, I can imagine the 
picture being beautiful, but seen on a raw 
April day, bereft of the glories of the sunlight, 
with no sign of verdure save the sombre green 
of some cypresses on Seraglio Point, especially 
where one is fresh from the lovely gardens of 
Damascus, there is little in the scene to awaken 
enthusiasm. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 

We landed at the French custom-house, so 
called because it was built by the French. 
(There are three custom-houses in Constanti- 
nople.) After having had our passports vised 
at the Turkish custom-house, before we were 
permitted to disembark, at the French cus- 
tom-house we found our baggage awaiting 
examination. No matter whether you have 
merely crossed from one port to another in the 
Turkish dominions, any articles you have pur- 
chased are subject to an export duty of eight 
per cent, I think, so that, in skirting the coast 
of Asia Minor as we did, had our baggage 
been strictly examined at each place we visited, 
the value of our modest purchases, with duties 
added, would have been something fabulous 
by the time we shook the dirt of Constanti- 
nople from our shoes. But the law was never 
enacted to be enforced ; its object simply being 

320 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



321 



to allow a little wider scope to the legalized 
robbery of strangers, practised by these fa- 
natics. 

We stood ranged around our baggage in a 
semicircle ; out from a little house came two 
dignified-looking custom-house officers, one of 
whom pointed out a trunk and told us to 
open it. While he was handling over the 
contents in a listless manner, evidently not 
very zealous in the service of his lord and 
master, our interpreter was quietly arranging 
with the other fellow the amount of swag 
necessary to pass the entire invoice. I never 
found out exactly what it was, but the money 
was unblushingly transferred with the smallest 
possible attempt at concealment, and official 
number one with a yawn ceased his arduous 
labors and followed his pal into the ranch to 
divide, while the transaction was fresh in the 
minds of both. We were now fairly and 
freely within the capital of the Ottoman Em- 
pire. We got into some very dirty cabs, 
drove through some very filthy streets, over 
the worst pavement in the world, saw some 
mouldy old street-cars painted a dirty dingy 
green, passed blocks of comparatively mod- 
ern-looking buildings, mostly brick, such as 

21 



322 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

one would expect to find in the most disrep- 
utable portions of New York or Boston, and 
commenced the ascent of the hill on which the 
portion of the city called Pera is situated, 
the best and most modern quarter. As we 
neared the top of the hill we saw to our left 
a cemetery, watched over by stately cypress 
trees, but pervaded with such an air of desola- 
tion and neglect that I seized the first available 
moment to ascertain somewhat in regard to 
the treatment of the dead, and their burial. I 
was told that as soon as any one dies the body 
is carefully washed, and the nostrils and ears 
filled with cotton. It is then wrapped in a 
white cloth, leaving only the face exposed, and 
taken in a coffin or box to the place of burial. 
Here it is removed from the box and rolled 
into the grave, where it remains just as it hap- 
pens to fall ; a board is placed over it at an 
angle, one edge resting on the bottom and the 
other against the side of the grave ; but apart 
from this the body has no covering whatever to 
protect it from the earth with which the grave is 
filled. Many of the tombstones are elaborate 
and magnificent, being of white marble, gilded 
or painted, with the name of the deceased and 
inscriptions from the Koran. Generally a 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



323 



stone is placed at each end of the grave, and 
the head-stones of the men are often orna- 
mented with a turban in marble, while those 
of the women generally terminate in a species 
of scrollwork, more or less elaborate, accord- 
ing to the rank of the deceased. The entire 
length of the grave is sometimes covered with 
an oval mound of marble or masonry. But 
what struck me as being most curious was the 
custom of never caring for the graves. No 
matter what the station of the person, if his 
tombstone falls down it is never set up again. 
The surviving relatives sometimes decorate the 
graves with flowers and even have family gath- 
erings under small tents stretched over the 
graves, as we saw in Damascus ; but it seems 
to be a part of their superstition to allow the 
elements to destroy the monuments as the 
worms destroy the bodies of those they have 
loved and lost. 

We were going to the Hotel d'Angletere, 
said to be the best in Constantinople ; we 
found it full, but were put into an " annex" 
run by the same party, who modestly informed 
us that he was the greatest landlord in Con- 
stantinople, and had three hotels. 

His prices seemed reasonable enough, $3.00 



324 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



a day ; but we found to our sorrow that in his 
frugality he provided only provisions sufficient 
for six, with which to feed twelve, so that it 
was a constant fight for five mortal days to get 
enough to eat. Even then we were obliged to 
provide our own jam, which formed the staple 
of each breakfast. 

But the city was full of visitors, and I sup- 
pose we should have been thankful for a place 
to lay our heads. We learned from friends who 
had arrived before us, that on this particular 
day the Sultan's treasures, and the great pal- 
ace of Dolma-Bagtche were to be exhibited 
for the last time this year, for the modest sum 
of ten francs a head, usual price twenty-five 
francs. The party was large, hence the reduc- 
tion. We ate a frugal breakfast — all our 
meals at the Grand Hotel d'Europe were fru- 
gal, — hired very nice carriages with liveried 
coachmen at fifteen francs for the afternoon, 
and, in company with thirteen other carriage- 
loads, started for Seraglio Point, where the 
treasury is located. We crossed the Golden 
Horn by the new bridge to the old quarter of 
the city called Stamboul. 

The Golden Horn, deriving its name both 
from its shape and the quantities of fish with 



\ 
V 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



325 



which its waters formerly swarmed, is an arm 
of the Bosphorus which makes into the land, 
extending nearly to the Mosque of Eyoub and 
the fashionable cemetery located there. 

It is very deep, one hundred and thirty feet 
in the middle, and about a quarter of a mile 
wide at the place where we crossed. The 
bridge is quite a creditable affair, resting on 
water-tight caissons anchored about sixty feet 
apart, and the superstructure is of wood, built 
in sections, not joined together, the points of 
contact being covered with iron aprons, which 
give out a clanging noise whenever a wagon 
passes over them. These, however, are neces- 
sary to allow for the rise and fall of the float- 
ing caissons. 

Everybody pays toll, the charge for a two- 
horse carriage being ten cents each way, I 
believe, and the receipts from the bridge are 
between 6,000 and 7,000 francs daily. The 
bridge is high enough above the water to per- 
mit ferry-boats, of which there are many, to 
pass, by lowering their smoke-stacks. Every 
night from 12 to 3, one section is swung round 
to allow the passage of large vessels. 

Most of the Turks, some of them very rich, 
still stick to Stamboul as a place of residence. 



326 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



The famous bazaars are on this side, also the 
great mosques, with some fine houses and 
public buildings, notably the War Department, 
but since the destruction by fire of a large 
portion of the palace on Seraglio Point, the 
Sultan does not stay here. The streets are 
for the most part narrow, crooked, and dirty, 
while the unpainted wooden buildings, many 
of them so dilapidated that they seemed and 
were utterly unfit for the population that fairly 
swarmed through them, completed a picture 
as utterly devoid of interest as one could well 
imagine. We finally reached the Point, passed 
through the gate, rode through a very shab- 
bily kept garden, and drew up before the first 
place of interest — the building where the Sul- 
tan used originally to receive foreign ambas- 
sadors. To all appearances it consisted of 
one room, the door behind, and a huge win- 
dow in front covered with iron grating. The 
usual formula was : " Has the unbelieving dog 
been fed and clothed ? " " Yes." " Then let 
him be admitted." And he was " admitted " 
to an audience by being allowed to approach 
the iron grating outside, while his royal nibs 
sat behind it within. The room was not a 
very pretentious affair, the most noticeable 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 327 

feature being a fountain which was set in mo- 
tion whenever any thing was being discussed 
which the Sultan did not wish to reach the 
ears of his ministers, who were ranged at a 
respectful distance behind him. 

We next visited the treasury, a detachment of 
soldiers outside, and many custodians within. 
We were attended by a staff-officer of the Sul- 
tan, a pleasant, intelligent-looking fellow, who 
could n't speak a word of English, but who 
was extremely affable and anxious to have us 
see every thing. The American consul was 
also with the party. The treasures which 
were exhibited to us, and which filled half a 
dozen large rooms, are the personal property 
of the Sultan, and descend with the succession, 
the government having no claim whatever to 
them. This was startling information. Here 
are sets of china ornamented with rare jewels ; 
plate of gold and silver ; arms of all sorts ; 
sword-hilts blazing with costly gems ; costumes 
of most superb workmanship as lavishly be- 
decked with pearls and sapphires and diamonds 
as if no other trimming could be so cheap ; 
cups and bowls filled with almost countless 
emeralds and rubies ; throne-covers and court- 
garments not only marvels of embroidery, but 



328 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



each one worth a king's ransom for its precious 
stones ; three emeralds, each as large as a 
hen's egg ; in fact, a collection of gems with- 
out an equal in the world, worth hundreds of 
millions of dollars, and yet the government is 
practically bankrupt, the pay of the common 
soldiers two years in arrears, and the people, 
who, of course, paid for all these treasures at 
some period or other, taxed and plundered to 
a degree that seems simply incredible to us. 
We saw half a dozen magnificent rifles and 
shot-guns of recent manufacture, doubtless 
sent as presents to the Sultan by people look- 
ing for contracts. In the gallery of one room 
they showed us the costumes worn by the last 
fifteen or twenty Sultans, each ornamented 
with the identical jewels which that particular 
Sultan fancied and wore. 

The speech of Judas Iscariot when he said, 
" Why this waste, for this ointment could be 
sold for thirty pence and given to the poor," 
may have been ill-timed, but the sentiment 
most naturally occurs to any one seeing this 
mass of useless treasure. In the cathedrals of 
Italy, many things of great intrinsic value, 
though utterly useless, have more or less 
artistic worth, but here it is not so. Imagine, 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



329 



if you can, a wash-bowl full of emeralds and 
two or three soap-dishes heaped up with ru- 
bies, kept for no purpose except because they 
are emeralds and rubies. 

We saw a couple of little figures of men, 
the bodies of which had been made out of 
single pearls of enormous size, simply price- 
less ; and stuck down in one corner of a case was 
the ruby for which Abdul-Aziz paid, nobody 
knows how many million francs in Paris, and 
which, stolen at the time of his assassination, 
finally furnished the clew which led to the 
discovery of his murderers. 

And just as like as not one of these days 
we shall hear that some Sultan or other, if 
there ever happens to be one brave enough 
to go out alone, has gathered together his 
wives in his treasure-house, and, goaded by 
fear of some impending evil, has set fire to 
the entire outfit, as did Sardanapalus of old. 

They showed us a beautiful little kiosk 
made in imitation of the throne-room in Bag- 
dad, from the original of which the throne has 
been filched and placed among the treasures 
we had just seen, ornamented (the room, not 
the throne) with the most exquisite blue tiles, 
such as we saw in Damascus, the manufac- 



330 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

ture of which is now one of the lost arts. 
And they showed us a library with a quantity 
of rare and beautiful works on parchment, 
which nobody ever reads. We also saw the 
Sublime Porte, which is nothing more or less 
than a gate in the building occupied by the 
army for some purpose or other. Architectu- 
rally there is nothing about the buildings 
now remaining on Seraglio Point that de- 
serves the slightest notice. But when we 
crossed the bridge again, drove through a 
couple of miles or so of dirty streets, we did 
see something which challenged our admira- 
tion, and made us for a while forget the 
bigoted power to whom it belongs ; and this 
was the palace of Dolma Bagtche. In speak- 
ing of this palace in terms of unqualified 
praise, as I shall, I am aware that I make my- 
self liable to adverse criticism, but I boldly 
make the assertion that, all things considered, 
per se, there is no palace in the world to 
compare with it, and it has been fitly styled 
" the incomparable structure of the world." 
It contains no art treasures to speak of ; much 
of its most sumptuous furniture has been re- 
moved to other palaces, but from the exquisite 
portal, the beautiful facade, through the suites 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



331 



of magnificent apartments, perfect in propor- 
tion and decorated with unquestioned taste, 
up and down the marvellously grand stair- 
case to that peerless apartment, the throne- 
room, it is simply a bewildering succession of 
magnificent vistas, such as can be seen no- 
where else on earth. There were countless 
apartments we did not see, but there was not 
one of the almost numberless ones through 
which we were permitted to stroll, which did 
not bear the stamp and seal of royalty — each 
one an apartment fit for a king. 

On one side a beautifully shaded street ; on 
the other the placid waters of the Bosphorus ; 
in front a small but tasty garden. And the 
throne-room ! No words can describe it. It 
is a hundred feet square, and the dome is a 
hundred feet hisfh. The decorations are beau- 
tiful, the floor like polished glass. What if 
the sixteen magnificent Corinthian columns 
which grace the entrance are not of costly 
marble, their effectiveness is not marred 
thereby. No pigmy furniture dwarfed into 
nothingness by the stupendous dimensions of 
the apartment obtrudes its incongruity upon 
the beholder. It is absolutely devoid of any 
thing of the kind. 



332 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

One would think that the possession of 
such a superb palace as this would fire the 
most craven-hearted with a desire to occupy 
it as befitted a king, with a retinue of princely 
cavaliers and beautiful ladies ; but the present 
imbecile, who wears the sword of Osman, is 
swayed by no such lofty emotions. Once a 
year, during the Ramazan, he comes here to 
hold the ceremony whereat all the high offi- 
cials of the empire gather in stately array 
to kiss the hem of his garment and swear 
eternal allegiance to him. The ceremony 
takes place just as the sun is rising. The 
Sultan's throne is on the west side of the hall, 
facing the east. From the main entrance, 
which is in the middle of the south wall, the 
princes, governors, and great dignitaries of 
the empire, both civil and military, march in, 
turn to the right, and thus make the entire 
circuit of the hall before reaching the throne. 
With a hero upon the throne, in this magnifi- 
cent hall, crowded with the warriors whose 
bravery had formed the unceasing bulwark of 
a mighty empire ; with the statesmen whose 
wisdom had safely steered the ship of state 
through many a storm ; with the early sun- 
beams flashing back from sword and hel- 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



333 



met and the jewelled decorations on manly 
breasts, it must have been a ceremony to 
awaken the enthusiasm of patriotism in every 
heart and fill the soul with lofty purpose 
and ambition. And such doubtless was the 
idea of the originator of the ceremony. 

And even now, with this poor cowardly 
puppet on the throne, without a statesman 
among his advisers or a general worthy the 
name in all his armies, the idle form of the 
pageant, unanimated by the spirit of its pur- 
pose, is said to be impressive in the extreme. 

We saw the apartments occupied by the 
Empress Eugenie, and the room wherein the 
slaves of the palace, countenanced and assisted 
by the Minister of War, made their first at- 
tempt to assassinate Abdul Aziz. Poor fel- 
low ! He was a tyrant as well as a bigot, but 
one cannot help admiring a brave man what- 
ever his faults. Betrayed by those who, 
loaded with favors as they had been by him, 
should have shed their life's blood in his de- 
fence ; alone in his magnificent palace, and 
aware as he must have been of the futility of 
resistance, they say that his body showed with 
what desperate valor he had defended himself 
against hopeless odds. 



334 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



His brother was too wise to accept the very 
dangerous distinction of Sultan, and so the 
present gentleman was invested with the sword 
of Osman. It may be inferred from some ex- 
pressions I have used, that I think lightly of 
the present rulers greatness, and at the risk 
of being a little tedious I will describe his 
status as nearly as I could learn it in a land 
where his name is mentioned with bated 
breath, while each one glances furtively at 
his neighbor, fearing lest he should recognize 
the features of some one of the Sultan's count- 
less detectives. Aside from his sensuality, 
which is a characteristic of all Turkish rulers, 
this man is a coward, cruelly suspicious as all 
cowards are ; indolent, unprogressive, fanati- 
cal. The only gleam of intelligence which 
has distinguished his reign has been the dis- 
missal of most of his English advisers and 
officers, and the entire overthrow of the Eng- 
lish influence at his court. When one stops 
to consider how the Turks have been robbed 
by the English in every way possible, from the 
time they furnished a score of worthless iron- 
clads at $120,000,000 down to the days they 
unblushingly confiscated the sorrowful pittance 
of tribute which Egypt annually paid the 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



335 



Porte, all the time protesting their eternal 
friendship and determination to protect the 
sick man against the encroachments of the 
Russian bear, — when one considers all this, I 
say, even the most intolerant must feel a thrill 
of compassion for the helpless invalid. Well, 
the days of this friendly robbery are about 
over, and strange as it may seem, England 
has less influence to-day with the Sublime 
Porte than any other nominally friendly 
power. 

Aside from this one spark of common- 
sense, the diplomatic atmosphere is one of 
Egyptian darkness. There seems to be no 
policy of any kind in regard to any subject, 
nor any attempt to prevent the nation drifting 
onto the rocks of financial ruin -which seem 
now so appallingly near. 

What could be expected of a ruler, an abso- 
lute despot who shuts himself up in the palace 
with his wives and concubines, who never stirs 
outside of his garden walls save once a week 
to attend services in the mosque situated 
across the street ; whose distorted fancy sees 
an assassin in every stranger who approaches 
him, and who every day receives direct from 
his chief of the secret police the news, if any, 



336 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



gathered by hundreds of indefatigable sub- 
ordinates, as to whether or not any sedition is 
brewing, and who only decides the one ques- 
tion as to who is to be the next recipient of 
poisoned coffee. 

The smell of blood in the splendid Dolma 
Palace was too much for his palsied nerves, so 
he built a magnificent palace high up on the 
hill-side, a mile back from the Bosphorus, 
where faithful sentries could guard the ap- 
proaches on all sides. The Koran required 
that he should attend mosque every Friday, 
and on horseback. Surrounded by serried ranks 
of soldiers, the streets lined with cavalry and 
infantry, in the early years of his reign he 
undertook to perform this duty. But one day 
his horse, having been poisoned, no one ever 
found out by whom, stumbled and nearly 
threw him off. Now there is a Moslem tradi- 
tion that if the Sultan is thrown from his 
horse it is a direct manifestation of the wrath 
of Allah, and his abdication or death must 
follow at once. 

The Sultan on this occasion managed by 
whip and spur to rally the dying steed, who 
carried him safely to the mosque and then 
dropped dead. But the rider has never since 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



337 



mounted one of his Arabian chargers, and 
fearful lest some greater evil should befall him 
he ordered a mosque to be built immediately 
in front of the palace, that the danger attend- 
ant on his appearance in public might be 
reduced to a minimum. It is pitiful to see 
the attempts made to keep up the semblance 
of the forms which prevailed in Constantinople 
when Turkey was ruled by brave men however 
despotic. 

The ceremony of attending mosque is now 
the only time when the Sultan appears in pub- 
lic. This takes place Friday morning between 
1 1 and 1 2 : 30. Formerly it was not known 
until Friday morning which one of the many 
mosques the Sultan would visit. The form is 
still kept up, although he never visits but the 
one. 

Early Friday morning the troops, with 

bands playing and colors flying, begin to 

assemble somewhere in the neighborhood of 

the palace. A number of one-horse carts, 

loaded with sand, are backed up against the 

curb-stone. A disreputable-looking old covered 

ambulance, worth, at an extravagant estimate, 

$7.50, and drawn by a pair of plugs worth 

about $7.50 more, contains the throne and the 
22 



338 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

prayer-rug. This is backed up just by the 
guard-house near the corner of the palace. 

The appearance of the throne-wagon and 
the sand-carts in the neighborhood of a par- 
ticular mosque on Friday morning was evi- 
dence to the people that the Sultan would 
worship there, and consequently they would 
congregate in no particular locality until they 
saw there these evidences of the proposed 
visit. But they no longer attach the least 
importance to the air of doubt which is 
attempted to be thrown about the visit. 
Towards 10 o'clock we, in common with hun- 
dreds of others, drew up as near to the street 
of the palace as the detective would allow us ; 
amused ourselves watching the venders of all 
kinds of nuts, flowers, sweetmeats, and drinks, 
plying their vocations among the people ; 
bought of a small boy a short willow or 
cherry stick of wonderful medicinal properties, 
(three taps of it on the abdomen being a 
certain cure for the worst case of stomach-ache), 
with which I expect to become a public bene- 
factor at home in watermelon time ; asked 
many questions of the guide concerning the 
Sultan and his family, to some of which, if we 
received an answer at all, it was only in a 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



339: 



scared whisper ; got dangerously near the 
" dead line " once or twice, and were thrust 
back with no very gentle hand ; waiting impa- 
tiently for the signal as to a choice of mosques, 
which everybody knew had been arranged long 
beforehand and was always the same. 

At length an officer came dashing out of 
the palace as if the Sultan had only that 
instant decided where he would go, gave some 
hurried commands, and at once everybody 
woke up. The sand-carts and water-carts 
started up the hill to prepare a perfect road to 
the gate of the mosque. The sleeping pirate 
on the throne-chariot roused his melancholy 
plugs with a sounding thwack, and started 
them on a canter through the mosque gates 
and up to the entrance. We were prepared 
for all this nonsense, and only smiled contempt- 
uously at it. But we were not prepared for 
the thrilling scene which followed. Suddenly 
the air was filled with music from a dozen 
bands, and from every direction, as if by 
magic, appeared infantry and cavalry, colors 
flying, bayonets flashing (no, they did n't flash, 
because the sun was not shining, but the 
phrase sounds well), marching and counter- 
marching in a bewildering way, all to their 



340 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



appointed stations, forming a living wall about 
garden, and palace, and mosque, through 
which no evil-disposed person might hope to 
force his way to the presence or person of the 
sovereign. 

The cavalry, four deep, were drawn up in 
front of us, as we were doubtless the most 
seditious-looking people in the crowd, but, 
standing on the seats of the carriage, we saw 
the road sanded and sprinkled in a trice, then 
a blare of trumpets, and carriages containing 
the Sultan's mother and his twenty-seven 
favorite wives, drove out from the palace and 
up to the mosque. Another pause, another 
flourish of trumpets, and, walking two by two, 
in full uniform, came a dozen generals and 
admirals, who also filed into the mosque. 
Again the trumpets, another detachment of 
splendidly accoutred dignitaries, also on 
foot. And now on the minaret appeared the 
muezzin calling to prayer, and while the weird 
tones of his cry were echoing through the air, 
two open carriages appeared, unaccompanied 
by outrider or escort. On the front seat of 
the first one, which, by the way, was lined 
with steel, sat the Minister of War and Osman 
Digna, of Shipka Pass fame, in full uniform. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



341 



On the back seat, alone, dressed in sombre 
black, a pale, slender, sickly-looking man, pre- 
maturely aged, bent over, glancing hurriedly, 
with a haunted look in his eyes, to right and 
left, occasionally bowing. Behind him, in the 
second carriage, came his son, and then two 
or three milk-white Arab steeds, led in case 
the Sultan should desire to exchange landau 
for saddle, which he never does. 

The call of the muezzin ceased, the Sultan 
entered the mosque, thankful to Allah, no 
doubt, that he had gone that two hundred 
yards alive, and the pageant was over. With- 
in the mosque I am told that the priest begins 
or ends the service with some such admonition 
as this : " You think you are a very great man, 
but remember there is one greater than you, 
and that is God." Once during the time while 
the Sultan was on his way, and in response to 
a certain call upon the bugle, all the troops in 
concert shouted : " The Sultan ! May he live 
forever ! " 

We did n't wait for the conclusion of the ser- 
vice — which occupied from half an hour to an 
hour, — but the troops did, and we were told 
that when the Sultan returned to the palace he 
drove a beautiful span of white horses, amid 



342 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



the plaudits of the people. I believe, too, the 
troops passed in review before him. 

Now, the presence of these soldiers was not 
to add solemnity or importance to the cere- 
mony, but simply to protect his Majesty from 
the danger of a stray shot, which, as near as I 
could learn, nobody has any desire to fire, 
since he is no worse than any of his predeces- 
sors for the last fifty years, and, not having 
attempted any startling innovations, has not 
aroused the fanaticism or jealousy of any of 
his subjects. But he is almost insane on the 
subject of his personal safety. Here is an 
example : Directly opposite the gate of the 
garden surrounding the mosque is a guard- 
house, to the front windows of which, for the 
purpose of witnessing the ceremony, foreigners 
have access through their different legations. 
But although a strong guard is stationed here, 
and the different ministers are to a degree 
accountable for the character of the persons 
admitted, it is an absolute requirement that all 
the windows be kept closed and not a person 
show him or herself outside the building until 
the ceremony is over ! 



CHAPTER XXV. 

CONSTANTINOPLE (Continued). 

Constantinople contains about a million 
people — nobody knows the exact number, — 
and about two million dogs. The law of 
domicile governing dogs is pretty well estab- 
lished in all Oriental cities, being the same, as 
far as I could judge, in Alexandria, Damascus, 
and Constantinople. Each dog, although none 
of them have any owners, belongs to a certain 
street or quarter of the city. If he gets out 
of his domain he gets into trouble, and life is 
a burden until he returns home. If he strays 
too far, the chances are he will be killed by 
other dogs before he makes his escape. The 
dogs of all these cities are of the yellow cur 
variety, good-natured and harmless — in fact, 
they take no notice of the average passer-by ; 
spend their time either in sleep or in search 
for something to eat. They are not very fat, 
many of them, but they are far from being 

343 



344 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

starved ; are good scavengers, and generally 
friendly and unobtrusive. While they may be 
considered unclean, a certain sacredness at- 
taches to them in Constantinople, because, on 
one occasion — nobody seems to know when or 
how, — their barking prevented a surprise by 
some besieging force. Certain it is that the 
municipality of the city recently refused a very 
tempting offer of 60,000 francs, made by a 
French company, for the ownerless dogs in 
the town (the design being to tan their skins 
for gloves), fearing an insurrection among the 
people on account of the ancient tradition. 

There are some fine new buildings in the 
modern portion of the city, but any one 
expecting to find here a single trace of 
Oriental life will be greviously disappointed. 
Aside from a wilderness of red fezzes, I do 
not think we saw an Oriental costume while 
we were in the city, and even the veils worn 
by the few ladies who made any attempt to 
cover their faces, were of the thinnest possible 
material, exposing what they attempted to 
conceal. Excepting the bazaars in Stamboul, 
there was nothing Oriental about the stores ; 
indeed, the best of them all have a very 
Frenchy look, and were it not for the strange 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



345 



signs, and the money-changers here and there 
in the business part of the towns, one could 
fancy one's self almost anywhere else than at 
the Golden Gate, were it possible to imagine 
another city so dirty. 

The money-changers ! I had almost forgot- 
ten them, and yet they are a peculiarly Oriental 
institution. They generally sit out on the 
sidewalk, with a little show-case about eighteen 
inches by two feet in front of them, in which 
is money of various denominations. Some- 
times they combine this business with that of 
cigarette selling. It is curious, but neverthe- 
less true, that excepting where you make a 
purchase, you cannot get any change, no mat- 
ter how little, unless you pay for it, the rate 
being regulated by law. So strictly is this 
custom enforced, at Cairo, for instance, that if 
you wanted to have a 20-franc piece changed at 
the hotel office, you would have to stand the 
regular shave of half a piastre, two cents and 
a half. These money-changers, many of them 
Jews, while they do not charge more than the 
regular tariff for changing money, are at lib- 
erty to buy foreign coin at such rates as they 
can make, and, taken all around, this occupa- 
tion is a decidedly profitable one. It must be 



346 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



a great blessing to shop-keepers to be relieved 
from having people come in at all hours for 
" change," as they do with us. 

We saw the Galata tower built by the 
Genoese, now used as a look-out by the fire 
department, and we climbed to the top of it 
to obtain a view of the city. It is a stupen- 
dous building, and is a prominent feature in 
every view of the city. It is extremely grace- 
ful in proportion too, and must have laughed 
to scorn any efforts in mediaeval times to cap- 
ture it. 

We assaulted the bazaars without much 
heart, doing most of our " trading " at an es- 
tablishment where they pretended to have a 
fixed price, but did n't, as we found out much 
to our disgust after most of our purchases 
were made. We were tired of bazaars, to tell 
the truth ; our confidence in our powers of 
bargaining were somewhat rudely shaken by 
our experience in Smyrna, and it began finally 
to dawn on us that five houses in Minneapo- 
lis, equipped with the same general assortment 
of gimcracks from a dozen different Eastern 
cities, might convey to the average observer a 
faint suspicion of a lack of originality in the 
different members of our party. We bought 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



347 



a few rugs at what seemed exorbitant figures, 
because this was our last chance ; invested 
sparingly in Turkish Delight and antique em- 
broidery, and spent the remainder of our chilly 
stay visiting places of interest and cussing the 
landlord of the Grand Hotel des Etrangers. 

Of course we visited the mosques of St. 
Sophia and Sultan Achmed and Solyman the 
Magnificent, and any one of them is worth 
going to Constantinople to see. The St. 
Sophia is the largest, but the Solyman is the 
most impressively, grandly beautiful. 

We went one afternoon to see the Whirling 
Dervishes, who perform twice a week in a very 
pretty little church of their own. 

Their worship consists of merely whirling 
around in one place, arms extended, the palm 
of one hand turned up, and the other turned 
down, the former symbolizing divinity, the 
latter humanity. The head is held a little on 
one side, and the long skirt describing what 
the children call " a cheese," is not without a 
certain grace. There were about twenty of 
them all told, and their enthusiasm was kept 
up by some barbaric music stationed in the 
gallery. Although the whirling continued for 
nearly an hour with but slight intermissions, 



343 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

there was none of that violence of motion, and 
falling down from exhaustion, which some 
writers have described. These dervishes are 
a very important religious body ; the most so 
in fact of any in the Empire, and their chief 
always presides at the ceremony of investing a 
new Sultan with the sword of Osman. 

I opened negotiations with our guide for 
one of these dervish hats, which looked like a 
section of sewer pipe, worth possibly fifteen 
cents, but when I was told that the sale of 
them was prohibited by the government, and 
a clandestine purchase of one would cost me 
fifty francs, my ardor for possession cooled 
immediately. 

I made a desperate effort to ascertain the 
origin of this whirling ceremony, but all ac- 
counts were so vague or improbable that I 
gave up in despair. 

Cold and cheerless as it was, some of us 
made a trip up the Golden Horn, past the 
Sweet Waters of Europe, to the landing near 
which the very sacred Mosque of Eyoub is 
located, so sacred that unbelievers are never 
admitted within its precincts. The small ferry- 
boats which make this trip, occupying about 
an hour, stop at various points for passengers. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



349 



We passed among the ironclads of the 
Turkish navy, beautiful-looking vessels, for 
which the Turkish Government has about as 
much use as the Sultan has for a saddle horse. 
Here they lie at anchor year in and year out, 
safe from attack, a navy in name, useless, un- 
needed, so many sombre monuments of the 
unspeakable folly of one nation, and the un- 
blushing greed of another. And we saw an 
ironclad built entirely at the navy yard of the 
government. It was launched last year with 
great ceremony, having been up to that time 
twelve years building, and having cost, so the 
story goes, upwards of fifteen millions of dol- 
lars ! They may have it finished and ready 
for service before the next visit of their Rus- 
sian neighbors, but I doubt it. But in any 
event they will have no more use for it than 
they had for the cunning little ironclads which 
were built for service on the Danube. Al- 
though the nation is bankrupt beyond all hope 
of redemption, the high officials manage to 
draw their pay with great regularity and to 
steal with uninterrupted diligence. 

The salary of the Grand Vizier is about 
$50,000 a year ; the other ministers get from 
$6,000 to $10,000 ; judges about $4,000, and 



350 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



all hands expect and are expected to steal 
from five to ten times as much more, the 
amount being commensurate entirely with the 
opportunity. 

We were glad enough to land and stretch 
our half frozen legs, occupying the time until 
the return of the steamer in looking at the 
outside of the mosque and strolling through 
this distant quarter of the city. Our guide 
pointed out the mosque in the court of which 
he said the first kitchens were established for 
feeding the poor, a custom at one time quite 
prevalent throughout the city. It has long 
since fallen into disuse, for some Sultan dis- 
covered that this charity was grossly abused, 
and the only work that the poor people did 
who were supposed to receive temporary relief 
was to try and wake up in time for the next 
meal. The Mosque of Eyoub marks the spot 
where a brave Moslem chieftain lost his life in 
the first attack upon the city by the Arabs, 
a.d. 668. It contains the green banner of the 
prophet, used only in great emergencies, and 
the sword of Osman. 

I had noticed on the steamer going up a 
very gentlemanly young fellow, dressed in 
black clothes, who might have been taken for 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



351 



a well-to-do merchant or dapper clerk, and, to 
my surprise, he was on the boat coming down. 
He bowed with such excessive politeness to 
our guide that I inquired who he was. 

" That man," said Nicoll, " is one of the 
Sultan's private detectives. Some of them 
are known to us, most of them are not. They 
are everywhere, both by day and by night, 
and nothing escapes them. They form no 
part of the regular police force, but report 
daily, and oftener, if necessary, to their chief, 
who in turn makes his report in person every 
morning to the Sultan. And he is one of the 
few persons in all the empire whom the Sultan 
appears to trust." 

We stood beneath the giant plane-tree in 
the garden on Seraglio Point, and called to 
mind the career and destruction of that famous 
body of men, the Janizaries. Founded origi- 
nally in the year 1329 from captive slaves 
converted to Islamism, they grew in numbers 
and importance until, in the days of Solyman 
the Magnificent, fifty thousand strong, they 
formed the bravest and most perfectly disci- 
plined force in Europe. From this time they 
rapidly degenerated in character, until, like 
the Praetorian Guard of Rome in its evil days, 



352 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



they were little better than an armed mob, 
pillaging persons and even cities with impu- 
nity, and more than once overthrowing and 
putting to death some ruler who had incurred 
their animosity. The attempt made by Selim 
III., in 1798, to restrain them, caused a terri- 
ble revolt, which cost that Sultan his life, and 
brought upon his capital the most unheard of 
and horrible atrocities. Mahmoud, politic and 
far-sighted, made a pretence of pardoning 
them for past offences when he ascended the 
throne, but he never flinched in his purpose of 
utterly exterminating them. In 1826 he issued 
an order that one hundred and fifty Janizaries 
of each regiment should at least become 
amenable to some sort of discipline. As was 
expected, this led to a revolt, signalized by 
the most dreadful outrages. The Janizaries 
always wore a wooden spoon in their turbans, 
and whenever any thing happened which was 
distasteful to them, they reversed their soup- 
kettles, which they always carried with their 
companies : a fearful sign, presaging rapine 
and bloodshed. But on this occasion the Sul- 
tan was ready for them, soup-kettles and all. 
They met with a most determined resistance 
from such of the troops as remained faithful to 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



353 



the Sultan. The mufti proclaimed a holy war, 
displaying the green banner of Islam. Artil- 
lery, carefully secreted in advantageous posi- 
tions, opened a merciless fire upon them, and 
the common people offered them no counte- 
nance of support. " Burned alive in their 
barracks, cannonaded in the ' At Meidan/ 
where they made their most desperate defence, 
massacred singly in the streets during three 
months, the remainder were condemned to 
exile." But when the Sultan came to count 
noses for his " exile" party the attempt was a 
failure, for all had perished, and the dead 
numbered twenty-five thousand. 

There are a few relics of Roman times in 
the city. The hippodrome built by the Em- 
peror Severus is now distinguishable only as 
an open space, in the central line of which, 
marking what was the longer diameter of the 
original race-course, 700 x 500 feet, stand three 
ancient monuments : the first, an obelisk from 
Thebes, about fifty feet high, covered with 
hieroglyphics ; next, the famous brazen col- 
umn, made of three serpents entwining in 
spiral folds, which is said to have been 
brought from the celebrated oracle at Delphi, 

where it supported a golden tripod found 
23 



354 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



among the spoils of the Persian camp after 
the battle of Plataea. At the further extremity 
is another column, partially ruined. It is of 
marble blocks, and originally was covered 
with metal plates. 

The Burnt Column is popularly supposed to 
have been struck by lightning, but I don't see 
what business a well-ordered streak of light- 
ning could possibly have in Constantinople. 
The more reasonable supposition is that the 
porphyry of which it is composed has been 
blackened from the numerous conflagrations 
through which it has passed. It must have 
been a sightly monument originally, when, 
brought from Rome by Constantine the Great, 
it stood forth a beautiful column surmounted 
by the statue of that noble Roman. But to- 
day, blackened as it is, and bound by iron 
bands to keep it from falling to pieces, it is 
not especially pleasing to the eye. The state- 
ment that the celebrated statue of Apollo, by 
Phidias, formerly surmounted the column has 
no foundation historically. 

The cistern of the Thousand and One Col- 
umns is now used by silk spinners, who toil 
here to advantage underground, on account of 
the moisture of the atmosphere. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



355 



The tomb of the Sultan Mahmoud is mag- 
nificent in the extreme. In the centre of the 
beautiful little building stands the sarcopha- 
gus, eight feet long and perhaps as many high, 
covered entirely with purple velvet, on which 
is embroidered in gold the following : " This 
is the tomb of the layer of the basis of the 
civilization of his empire, of the monarch of 
exalted place, the Sultan victorious and just, 
Mahmoud Khan, Son of the victorious Abd'el 
Hamed Khan. (May the Almighty make his 
abode in the garden of Paradise.) Born Re- 
buel Evol 14, 1 199, Accession Jemaji Evol 4, 
1228, Death in 9, 1255. Reigned 31 

years, 10 months, 14 days." At the head of 
the sarcophagus stands a rack on which is a 
superb copy of the Koran, the beautifully 
illuminated leaves of which were reverentially 
turned for our inspection by the dervish in 
attendance. Aside from the velvet pall there 
is nothing on the sarcophagus save the turban 
worn by the Sultan in life. 

Near by was another sarcophagus, beneath 
which are the remains of those of the Sultan's 
wives who are dead. This too is without 
ornament other than the velvet covering. 

Neatly folded and thrown across the pall 



356 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



are some beautiful shawls. Originally there 
was one for each of the wives living at the 
time of the Sultans death ; but on the death 
of each wife a shawl is removed, and probably 
converted into coin of the realm by the pious 
but somewhat avaricious custodian of the 
tomb. It seems strange that this man should 
have passed away peacefully in this land of 
violence and bloodshed, author as he was of 
the dreadful massacre of the Janizaries. 

We also visited the museum lately founded 
by the government, and which contains some 
exquisite antiques in bronze and marble, and 
a great many curiosities from the Turkish 
islands and provinces. In one of the govern- 
ment buildings are three long galleries in 
which are shown all the costumes of fifty years 
ago. They are put on forms for the purpose 
of display, and are extremely interesting. In 
those days it seems that not only all arms of 
the military service had different costumes, 
some of them very grotesque, but persons in 
every rank of life wore a distinguishing garb. 
All the servants employed in the different 
capacities about the palace — butcher, baker, 
water-carrier, runner, mail-carrier, gardener, 
cook, civil officers of all kinds — in fact, every- 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



357 



body had his peculiar dress, and as most of 
them were of bright colors, the streets of Con- 
stantinople must then have presented a most 
picturesque appearance. 

We tried hard to be sufficiently interested 
to prolong our stay another week, but the 
poor hotel, the wretched cold, the cheerless 
rain, overbalanced our thirst for knowledge, 
and one Monday afternoon, without a single 
sigh of regret, we embarked on our old friend 
the Achille, now, swept, garnished, and freed 
from its swarming deck-load of steerage pas- 
sengers, as we had formerly seen her, pre- 
senting quite an attractive appearance. And 
just as we steamed out of the Golden Horn, 
the sun, that we had not seen for five days, 
shone forth in all his glory ; the clouds melted 
away " in thin air," and as we rounded Seraglio 
Point and sped swiftly down the Bosphorus 
we saw the city transformed as by the wand 
of an enchanter. The muddy streets had van- 
ished, the unsightly houses were no longer dis- 
tinguishable, the tower of Galata rose proudly 
above the clustering buildings on the hill ; the 
lofty domes and minarets of St. Sophia, Soly- 
man the Magnificent, and Sultan Achmed, 
towering gracefully aloft and sharply outlined 



358 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

against the clear blue of the sky, gave us a 
parting impression of their extreme beauty. 
And the long line of buildings on either side, 
here and there partially hidden by surrounding 
trees and gardens, completed a scene which 
we would fain remember always as the Con- 
stantinople of poetry though not the city of our 
waking dreams. 

Behind us over the Sea of Marmora arose 
the full moon in unclouded splendor, and bit- 
terly disappointing as had been our experience 
we were thankful for the unbroken circle, the 
peaceful night, the silvery sea, and the sana 
mens in sano corpore which had thus far been 
the lot of each one of our party. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



. ATHENS. 

Two nights and a day of perfect calm upon 
that portion of the sea so often storm-swept, 
and Wednesday morning found us at anchor 
in the harbor of the Piraeus. Its name alone 
recalls its ancient fame, for here is now a 
thriving city of upwards of thirty thousand 
souls, broad streets, fine pavements, handsome 
buildings, thrifty merchants. " Ring out the 
old, ring in the new." Not the old of Themis- 
tocles and Pericles, but the old of Turkish 
intolerance and oppression, from henceforth 
forever only a baleful memory, thank God ; 
and ring in the new of a united, enfranchised, 
and liberty-loving people, not yet out of the 
quicksand of financial difficulties and dangers, 
not yet more than creeping along the highway 
of national prosperity, where we hope soon to 
see them marching with the firm step of a 
vigorous manhood, but as a nation, looking 

359 



360 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



towards the light, with resolution, patriotism, 
and great good-sense. The custom-house 
officials detained us not, and in the bright 
sunlight of the early morning we were soon 
speeding over the highway, amid the olive 
groves and vineyards, to Athens, five miles 
away. As we drove along the broad, beautiful 
streets of Athens, past the many handsome 
buildings, in the construction of which the 
white marble of Pentelicon had been used as 
lavishly as if no stone were more common, we 
rubbed our eyes in amazement. This surely 
is not Athens ? A city so new, so clean, so 
beautiful, in sooth must have been built but 
yesterday. Ah ! But there is the lofty rock 
of Lycabettus, with the white chapel of St. 
George, before the gate of which the lamp 
burns eternally ; and there on the other side, 
there, we surely are mistaken, the Parthenon ! 
Yes, this is Athens. Let us prepare again for 
disappointment ; the importunate beggars, 
the dirty hotels, swindle, robbery on every 
side. It can't be quite as bad as Con- 
stantinople truly, for the sun is shining and 
the air is soft and balmy. And this Grand 
Hotel d'Angleterre ? Surely it looks invit- 
ing. And it was inviting. Rooms delight- 



ATHENS. 



361 



ful, attendance faultless, table — even we could 
find no fault with it. The beggars were 
not ; the birds sang amid the flowers in the 
garden before ; the spirit of 2,200 years agone 
seemed to be upon us as when Socrates gath- 
ered his pupils about him in the groves of 
the Academy down there, to instruct them in 
the doctrines of that philosophy which will 
perish alone with time. Peaceful, beautiful 
city ! Free from swindles and swindlers, 
saved from the incongruous mingling of the 
old and new. The Acropolis not desecrated 
by the hands of modern builders, the The- 
seum still standing alone in solitary beauty, 
the esplanade of the Temple of Olympian 
Zeus unmarred by wall or building of the 
modern city. I was sorry that the rest of the 
party felt compelled to continue their journey 
after one day's rest, but here I was glad to 
stay. I wanted an opportunity to get ac- 
quainted with the sunshine once more, to 
recognize the sensation of bodily warmth su- 
perinduced by a mild atmosphere, rather than 
the somewhat expensive caloric of a hotel 
stove where wood was worth four francs a 
basket. I wanted something good to eat, and 
here in Athens were all these blessings to be 



362 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



found, while for mental food were the ruined 
though unequalled architectural beauties of the 
Golden Age of Pericles. We bade our friends 
an au revoir until Rome, and with an abun- 
dance of time before us, set ourselves to work 
systematically to enjoy this the greatest treat 
of our trip. Time after time we climbed the 
Acropolis to view the beauties of the Parthe- 
non, the temple of Nike Apteros, and the 
Erectheium, each time more loth to leave the 
enchanted spot. These are such satisfactory 
ruins to visit ; nothing new, nothing restored 
by some bungler who imagined he might have 
given a few points both to Phidias and Praxi- 
teles had he been vouchsafed the opportunity. 
Everywhere over the vast extent of the Acropo- 
lis are fragments of columns, architraves, pilas- 
ters, capitals, statues, all of dazzling white 
marble, most of them elaborately carved. 
Hundreds, yes, thousands of these fragments 
will forever remain unidentified, and yet it 
would be a sin to remove them, for they make 
it possible for the beholder to imagine what 
a wilderness of beautiful creations must here 
have been gathered when Athens was in her 
glory. On the northeastern corner of the 
Acropolis, unobtrusively situated almost out 



ATHENS. 



363 



of sight, is the Museum where are gathered 
all the recently discovered objects of interest. 
Here is the small portion of the matchless 
frieze of the Parthenon which that legalized 
robber, Lord Elgin, did not carry off seventy 
years ago. " London Assurance," as exem- 
plified in the character of that man, will remain 
unparalleled so long as the world stands. For 
the priceless treasures of these buildings he 
actually had the cheek to offer the Greeks, or 
rather the Turks, a clock and a clock-tower ! 
No respect for the eternal fitness of things 
influenced him. And it never seemed to have 
occurred to his egotistical mind that so long 
as the Parthenon stood, the marbles which were 
its chief ornaments should remain in it. What 
he was after was something to perpetuate 
his name in the British Museum. It 's a 
kind of notoriety few men would care to en- 
courage. Small wonder that the indignant 
people, when Greece again came to be a na- 
tion, tore down his clock-tower, and scattered 
the fragments to the four winds. But perhaps 
we ought to be thankful that his lordship 
did n't haul down the Parthenon for the sake 
of obtaining one of its beautiful Doric col- 
umns, and I presume he would have done it 



364 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



had the cost of transportation to England 
been less formidable. I learned with much 
satisfaction that his lordship is dead, and con- 
sequently the Parthenon is safe. 

Aside from the little Museum, and a staff 
on the northern lookout bastion from which 
floats the blue flag of Greece with its white 
cross, there is nothing modern about the 
Acropolis ; and in this, one finds an unspeaka- 
ble charm. Excavations are constantly going 
on, rubbish and earth being taken away, while 
any stray bit of marble which may be found is 
carefully laid to one side, — a useless fragment, 
it is true, but too precious to be removed. 

To describe the buildings of the Acropolis 
would be to write a history of Athenian art, 
for which I have neither the ability, time, nor 
inclination. They may not, in fact do not, 
impress the beholder so forcibly as some 
others. They do not speak of a race of giant 
builders who brought to their purpose forces 
and mechanisms of which we are in hopeless 
ignorance. There is nothing impossible about 
the Parthenon, but all these edifices, raised to 
such a lofty height from out the level plain 
upon their rocky foundations, seem to be per- 
vaded with the air of a joyous spirituality, if I 



ATHENS. 



365 



may be allowed the expression ; and no matter 
what may have been the nature of the reli- 
gious ceremonies here performed, it is simply 
impossible to associate these beautiful struc- 
tures, looking out upon fertile fields, shady 
groves, charming gardens, and blue peaceful 
waters, with any thing sombre or funereal. 

The great Hall of Pillars at Karnak is haunt- 
ed with the gloom of former rites, which the 
sun and daylight can never chase from its mag- 
nificent aisles ; the Colosseum, albeit open to 
the brightness of the skies, still speaks of the 
dreadful scenes of bloodshed there enacted ; 
the peerless ruins of Baalbec are pervaded 
with a melancholy grandeur, perhaps on ac- 
count of the bewildering mystery surrounding 
their cyclopean fragments ; but in the bright, 
warm atmosphere of Athens one feels in look- 
ing at the Acropolis that the golden days of 
Athenian prosperity partook of a lofty senti- 
ment, a studious and successful search for the 
beautiful, which found its expression in that 
creation without example, unique, not led up 
to through tedious years of progression, bear- 
ing upon it none of the imprint of preceding 
temples, but like the goddess whose shrine it 
was, containing that wondrous image the like 



3C6 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



of which the world has never seen, it sprang 
from the builder's hand the most perfect, in- 
comparable creation of mortal genius. Small 
wonder that the eye of the homeward-bound 
mariner, rounding the jutting promontory of 
Sunium, sought the flash of the golden spear, 
which was his beacon light, for to-day in its 
ruins the Parthenon appeals to the most phleg- 
matic nature in a way that no other building 
upon earth does. Small wonder that there, 
before its marvellous gateway, Demosthenes 
delivered those orations which form the key- 
stone to the arch of the eloquence of the ages. 
The beauties before his eyes would have 
thrilled a heart of stone. 

And truly inspired of the Almighty, as each 
devout Christian believes Paul to have been, 
he would have been more than mortal if, stand- 
ing forth in the midst of Mars Hill to preach 
to the Athenians the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
the thought had not flashed through his mind — 
for he was after all only a man — that beneath 
the shadow of that greatest exponent of lofty 
genius, which towered above him, his words 
should be worthy of the place from which they 
were uttered. 

We saw the Stadium where 50,000 people 



ATHENS. 



367 



could witness the famous chariot-races and 
athletic sports ; we strolled round and round 
the Temple of Theseus, the most perfectly 
preserved Doric temple of antiquity ; we ad- 
mired the little Temple of the Winds, the 
choragic monument of Lysicrates, the ruins 
of the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, given origi- 
nally to the Athenians by a wealthy Roman of 
that name, and the great Theatre of Bacchus 
where thirty thousand spectators sat day after 
day to see the classic tragedies of ^Eschines, 
Sophocles, and Euripides. The marble chairs 
of many of the priests and great men, with 
their names inscribed upon them, are there, 
just as they were two thousand four hundred 
years ago. We also saw other remains of 
buildings erected by the Romans, but, except- 
ing the still beautiful gateway of Hadrian and 
the pillars at the entrance to the Roman 
Agora, with their curious inscription of the 
law regulating the price of corn, they con- 
sisted simply of isolated columns and frag- 
ments of walls. 

The foundations of the original double 
gateway towards the Piraeus have recently 
been excavated, but present no features of 
interest to the ordinary tourist, although well 



368 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



worthy of a visit on account of their historical 
associations. Beyond them we visited the 
Street of the Dead, where are many of the 
monuments and tablets in exactly the places 
they stood over two thousand years ago ; 
most of them of whitest marble, so beautifully 
sculptured that it seems sacrilege to leave 
them thus exposed to the elements and the 
predatory attack of those peripatetic vandals 
who would steal a hand from the Medici 
Venus if opportunity offered. Ancient Grecian 
funeral tablets are different from those of 
any other nation. While some of the monu- 
ments consist of single figures, most of them 
are groups sculptured in high relief, life size, 
and generally these represent the dead person, 
with all the appearance and attributes of life, 
taking leave of his or her family. The design 
may be open to criticism because the artist 
portrays in the faces of the group none of the 
intense anguish which characterizes an eternal 
earthly separation, but the answer to this is, 
that, after the first moments of deepest sorrow 
are over, the natural features of the deceased, 
as they were known in every-day life, are far 
more comforting to look upon than were they 
indicative of great sorrow. 



\ 

\ 



ATHENS. 



369 



We rode down to the Kolonos, where was the 
grove of ancient olives beneath the spreading 
branches of which Sophocles taught his disci- 
ples. The grove has vanished long ago, but the 
spot is marked by the tombs of two well-known 
scholars, who, having passed many happy and 
profitable years of research here amid the 
charmed scenery of this classic land, chose this 
as a fitting place for their burial. Near by was 
the Academy, so named from Academus, the 
owner of the land, the derivation of the word 
so common in our language being unknown 
to most people, I take it, as it was to me. 

We climbed to the top of steep Lycabettus, 
were cordially received by the old monk who 
is the sole dweller on this rocky peak, paid 
our small tribute towards the maintenance of 
the nightly beacon, examined the quaint little 
chapel, and enjoyed the magnificent view. 
And we walked up to the monument of Philo- 
pappos on the hill opposite the Acropolis, and 
thought the site a fitting one for the tomb of 
even the " noblest Roman of them all." Noth- 
ing can exceed the beauty and variety of the 
views from all points. The hills are so precipit- 
ous that they seem to hang over the white city. 

In the immediate background is Mount Hy- 

24 



370 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



mettus, famous for its honey ; farther off the 
lofty summit of Pentelicon, with its marble 
quarries gleaming white, half-way up the 
mountain side ; westward yonder the road 
leading straight across the plain, through 
orchards and vineyards, to Eleusis, whither 
the Panathenaic procession, starting from the 
eastern portal of the Parthenon, with pomp 
and circumstance unequalled, took its way by 
night to the sacred temple of Eleusis, there 
to take part in those mysteries which were the 
crowning ceremonial of Grecian religion ; then 
the Piraeus ; and beyond, immortal Salamis, the 
island of Eubcea, and the blue sea — for here 
it is a heavenly blue, — while to the south the 
fertile plain, and beyond Cape Sunium. We 
went one day to Marathon, like Sheridan at 
Winchester, " twenty miles away." Notice is 
given the night before, that a relay of horses 
may be sent to a point half-way, and lunch is 
taken from the hotel. The carriage fare is 
$12. Starting about eight o'clock we drove 
out by the palace, in an easterly direction, 
past the artillery barracks and drill-ground, 
where the king's army amuses itself in prepa- 
ration for encounters with imaginary foes, 
passing many cultivated fields and olive-groves 



ATHENS. 



371 



whose trees, many of them, were of great size ; 
the road gradually ascending, until we reached 
the summit of the low range of hills from 
which both the field of Marathon and the sea 
are visible — a beautiful landscape. 

We left the carriage at a farm-house, and, 
walking to the mound erected in honor of 
those who fell on this historic spot, sat down 
beneath the shade of the one tree which grows 
upon it, and had an opportunity of uninter- 
rupted thought. 

With the exception of the unobtrusive little 
farm-house, the plain of Marathon appears to- 
day exactly as it appeared on that August morn- 
ing nearly two thousand four hundred years ago. 
The beach where the Persian galleys were 
drawn up, the defiles of the hills from which the 
Grecian army debouched, all are unchanged. 
No sentimental egotist has been allowed to rear 
a modern shaft bearing the inscription, " Sacred 
to the memory of the brave who fell here in 
defence of their native land, erected by John 
Brown Jones, Esq." ; and no enterprising 
brigand has been permitted to build a fence 
about the mound, erect a kaphanion, and 
charge fifty lepta a head for the privilege of 
going inside only to be importuned in vil- 



372 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



lainous French to buy coffee, cigarettes, or 
sandwiches. This crowning outrage will doubt- 
less come with time. I am thankful our eyes 
did not witness it. We strolled down to the 
beach, and looked across to the blue island of 
Eubcea, whose mines furnished the money 
which Themistocles so judiciously applied to 
the building of the fleet, and in the early after- 
noon we started homeward. One laughable 
incident occurred. Miss M., the young lady 
of the party, in strolling along the sands, 
doubtless thinking of the day when on this 
very spot the victorious Greeks clung fran- 
tically to the Persian galleys, calling for fire to 
destroy the only means of escape left to their 
terror-stricken enemies, inadvertently stepped 
into a hole containing about ten inches of 
water. A twenty-mile ride in wet clothes 
would give her a dreadful cold. What was to 
be done ? After considerable foraging I man- 
aged to collect enough drift-wood to build a 
fire. The young lady w r as made to take off her 
shoes and stockings, and after a half hour of 
strict attention to business her garments were 
sufficiently dried to make travelling safe. But 
I have often thought what a picture we must 
have presented, clustered around a fire on that 



ATHENS. 



373 



historic beach, each one with some article of 
female apparel in his or her hands, which we 
were assiduously cooking in, over, and around 
the fire, while the beneficiary herself sat by 
wrapped up in a huge shawl apparently enjoy- 
ing the grotesqueness of the situation. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



ATHENS (Continued J. 

The American school, although it numbers 
less than a dozen students, is ably managed by 
professors sent out from Yale, Harvard, and 
other American universities, who generally 
stay for a year at a time. Strong hopes are 
now entertained that the school will be able to 
secure the right to excavate the ruins of 
Delphi. 

The modern village will have to be pur- 
chased at a cost variously estimated at from 
$75,000 to $125,000. An appeal has been 
issued to the friends of the classics in America 
to raise the amount. There seems to be a 
general impression that there will be a great 
amount of treasure discovered at Delphi, but 
I doubt it. The vast riches of ancient temples 
were too notorious to have escaped pretty 
systematic plundering whenever occasion of- 
fered. We were sorry to miss Dr. Schliemann, 

374 



ATHENS. 



375 



although the Doctor did n't worry much over 
it, as I presume he is pestered to death with 
people who invade the " Palace of Ilium" (his 
magnificent marble home), with but slight ap- 
preciation of the many beautiful and priceless 
treasures of Grecian art, both ancient and 
modern, with which it is fairly crowded. Al- 
though the Doctor is an American citizen, 
hailing from California, he is essentially 
Grecian in all his tastes and surroundings. 

They say that one day, many years ago, he 
strayed into the Arsakion, the great female 
school, where are always from six hundred to 
one thousand girls, and, inquiring in a general 
way regarding the attainments of the scholars, 
was pointed out one young lady who could 
repeat the Iliad word for word. The Doctor 
was charmed, so great was his loVe for the 
classics ; proposed for the young lady's hand, 
was accepted, and they were married. This 
seemed to me to speak volumes for the Doc- 
tor's intense devotion to ancient lore, but 
when I learned that his wife was then one 
of the prettiest girls in Athens, I concluded 
that the gallant Doctor was but human after 
all, and that the match would have been made, 
Iliad or no Iliad. 



376 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



I heard much of the beauty of the Greek 
women, but I think it must be one of the 
traditions of the age of Pericles, for all the 
ladies I saw were certainly a most ordinary- 
looking lot. And even one night at the 
opera, where were the king and queen and 
all the grandees of the court, I looked in vain 
throughout the vast audience for a single face 
that would compare favorably with that of 
a young American wife, whose box we occu- 
pied, and whose guests we were. 

Another day we drove to Eleusis, a charm- 
ing ride of twelve miles, along the identical 
Sacred Way where the Panathenaic proces- 
sion wended in solemn grandeur to the Temple 
of the Holy Mysteries. This road was origi- 
nally lined with splendid monuments, no trace 
of which now remains. The drive is very 
picturesque, skirting the bay, past the fertile 
Thryasinian plain, where corn was first plant- 
ed and grew into a useful crop for human 
needs. We inspected with great interest the 
remains of the temples brought to light by 
the excavations of the Archaeological Society. 
The fragmentary columns, architraves, and 
capitals have been so well protected by the 
rubbish which for centuries has covered them 



ATHENS. 



377 



that they are almost as white as when they 
came from the quarries, and one can almost 
imagine that they have just been brought on 
to the ground for use in the construction 
of some magnificent edifice. Many beautiful 
fragments have been brought to light, and 
these are carefully preserved, though not yet 
arranged, in a little building which is to serve 
as a museum. 

The present condition of the modern king- 
dom of Greece, while not as satisfactory as 
could be wished, will compare favorably with 
that of some of her more ambitious neighbors. 

It is true that the cost of royalty (the king 
receives 1,250,000 francs annually, besides the 
palace ; and the Assembly has just voted 400,- 
000 francs to his daughter, about to be mar- 
ried) is rather burdensome, but King George 
is by no means a bad ruler, and although 
a foreigner, and of an alien religion, he is 
well thought of by the people, while his wife 
and children, free from all affectations, and 
of the most blameless characters, are justly 
popular with all classes. Three years ago the 
nation was on the verge of bankruptcy. It is 
said that not more than three fifths, possibly 
three quarters, of all the taxes and imposts 



378 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



ever reached the national treasury. Dishon- 
esty and peculation were rife in every depart- 
ment of the government, but nowhere so 
pronounced as in the custom-house. Greece 
never, in her deepest distress, had greater 
need of an able, wise, and patriotic leader 
than at that time three years ago. 

And, as is often the case, the hour brought 
forth the man. Tricoupis, orator, statesman, 
patriot, was selected by the king as Prime- 
Minister. Of this remarkable man I learned 
much from both the American consul and Mr. 
Haggard, brother of the novelist, who is in 
charge of the British Legation in Athens. 

A lawyer by profession, a diplomat of most 
extraordinary sagacity, highly educated, a keen 
original thinker, of great experience in politi- 
cal affairs, thoroughly conversant with all the 
intricacies of modern international questions 
and relations, a man of the most sterling 
integrity and loftiness of purpose, possessing 
in a remarkable degree the power of mastering 
and retaining the minutest details of any sub- 
ject to which he gives his attention, gifted 
with a wonderful memory, a graceful pleasing 
presence, " he is," to use the language of Mr. 
Haggard, " the ablest statesman of the day in 



\ 



ATHENS. 



379 



Europe." With unflinching courage, where 
courage was an absolute necessity, he set 
himself to work to punish the thieves ; and, 
unterrified by the frequent threats against his 
life, so successfully did he follow out his pur- 
pose that to-day, I am informed, every official 
of the custom-house at the time of Tricoupis' 
entry into office, notwithstanding the interven- 
tion of every delay known to the law, is serving 
a sentence in prison for stealing — convicted 
felons all ! 

I heard him speak in the Assembly one day, 
and, although the speech was utterly unintel- 
ligible, it required no acquaintance with the 
Greek language to recognize the graceful, 
pleasing, convincing address of the truly great 
man. 

He is slowly lifting the nation out of the 
slough of financial distress, and, with a stead- 
fast loftiness of purpose which challenges the 
admiration of the men who oppose him bit- 
terly and hate him most cordially, he will, 
if his life is spared, triumphantly vindicate the 
implicit trust reposed in him by the king. 

Said a person, well conversant with the 
affairs of the nation, to me : " Tricoupis is 
the king," and King George, being sensible 



380 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



enough to recognize his worth, is willing that 
he should rule. 

I have said we were pleasantly surprised at 
our first sight of the city. Modern Athens 
deserves more than a passing notice from any 
one who visits it. Sixty years ago, upon the 
foundation of the present kingdom, when it 
was selected for the capital, it was nothing 
but a miserable collection of tumble-down 
buildings, without a single feature to recom- 
mend it as the seat of a new kingdom except 
its ancient name and fame, for even its location 
was unfavorable for a modern metropolis, and 
particularly so for the wants of the new nation. 
But the traditions and memories of ancient 
glories triumphed over all practical considera- 
tions, and Athens was fixed upon as the capi- 
tal. The cynical query, " What 's in a name ?" 
has been most emphatically answered in this 
case. Modern Athens should, to a degree at 
least, be worthy of the ancient metropolis of 
the classic world. And to-day, with its broad, 
well-paved streets, spacious sidewalks, water, 
gas, street-cars, fine public buildings, and mag- 
nificent private residences, it will compare 
favorably with any city in the world. The 
population numbers now a hundred thousand, 
and is rapidly increasing. 



ATHENS. 



381 



It speaks volumes for the patriotism of the 
modern Greeks that many of them who go far 
from home to engage in commerce and trade, 
and the East is full of them, come back to 
Athens to enjoy their wealth. These men 
have erected numerous fine buildings in addi- 
tion to their private residences, and have given 
hundreds of thousands of dollars for the found- 
ing of schools and the construction of edifices 
dedicated to the arts and sciences. Some of 
these buildings are beautiful in the extreme, 
and one of them, built and ornamented in imi- 
tation of the Parthenon, utterly different from 
any other building in the world, is the most 
pleasing modern edifice we have seen. 

Although the Grecian army comprises, I am 
told, but twelve thousand men, they are so 
very numerous in Athens that there seem to 
be at least fifty regiments in the city. Bugles 
are continually sounding, infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery marching to and fro, till it seems 
as if a momentary assault by the Turks must 
certainly be expected. Perhaps King George 
simply does all this to keep the soldiers out 
of mischief ; possibly he is only perfecting 
them in drill, so they may present a creditable 
appearance before the royal visitors who will 
be with him in October when his daughter, a 



382 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



charming girl, is to be married to one of the 
Russian princes. 

It may be inferred that I was pleased with 
every thing I saw in Athens. Would I could 
truthfully say so, but I am grieved to say that 
I saw one thing which shocked my modesty 
and seemed to me to be a needless encroach- 
ment on the domain of the traditional ballet 
girl. I refer to the costume of the Albanian 
regiment, better known as the national dress 
of the Greeks. National petty-coat of the 
Greeks might do, but it is pretty short after all. 

Where did these people, whose men used 
to wear the graceful toga, and whose fair ones 
were arrayed in that beautiful nameless some- 
thing with which our every idea of ancient 
classic elegance of female attire is so insepara- 
bly interwoven, — where, I say, did they obtain 
this present monstrosity ? Do you know what 
it is like ? Well, imagine a man, with a pair 
of tights covering the entire length of his 
legs ; from his waist at least a dozen white 
skirts, one over the other, hanging about half- 
way to his knees, about as long, say, as the 
most abbreviated skirts of the most audacious 
ballet dancer, the aforesaid skirts bobbing 
backwards and forwards as the wearer strides 



ATHENS. 



383 



along the streets ; on his feet a pair of prepos- 
terous red slippers, pointed and turned up at 
the end like a pair of old-fashioned skates, 
and terminated with an enormous red worsted 
rosette ; a tight-fitting blue jacket strapped in 
so closely at the waist as almost to prevent 
breathing it would seem ; and on the very back 
of the head a little round red cap, from which 
depends an abnormally monstrous black tas- 
sel ? Odd, is n't it ? I should think a regi- 
ment of these fellows, placed in the fore-front 
of the battle, would carry confusion and dis- 
may into the ranks of any army on earth. I 
am happy to say, though, that the national 
dress of the Greeks, with the exception of 
these few soldiers, is now little more than a 
hideous dream of the days when the Albanian 
conquerors swooped down upon them, bring- 
ing many evils in their train, but naught so 
grievous as this dress without a train. 

The railroads of the kingdom are not yet 
numerous. One from Athens to Cape Sunium, 
another to Corinth and across the Isthmus to 
Patras, are now in successful operation, and 
others in process of construction will add 
greatly to the facilities of travel as well as to 
the material wealth of the kingdom. 



384 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



This great work of the French Company, 
the canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, a 
distance of about three miles, is all but com- 
pleted, but opinions vary greatly as to its ulti- 
mate success, it being claimed, with certainly 
some show of reason, that the carrying trade 
which would use it is not nearly of sufficient 
magnitude to pay the tribute necessary to even 
maintain the work, to say nothing of paying 
any interest on the original outlay. Time will 
shortly settle this question. It is, however, a fair 
presumption that the work would not have been 
undertaken until after a careful and thorough 
investigation of this most important feature. 

All my life I had heard of Zante currants, 
and here we saw the vines, thousands upon 
thousands of them, occupying every inch of 
the fertile soil lying along the sea. The cur- 
rant, properly speaking, is a grape. The 
peculiarity characterizing the vine in Morea, 
Zante, and Cephalonia is that here, and here 
only, the fruit matures without seeds. The 
name comes from Corinth, near which city the 
currant was first grown centuries ago. 

Of ancient Corinth scarce a vestige remains, 
and indeed the mediaeval city was entirely de- 
stroyed during the war of independence. 



ATHENS. 



385 



The steamers from Constantinople to Brin- 
disi now make the journey around the penin- 
sula from Piraeus to Patras in about twenty-six 
hours, and as they stop at Piraeus for one day 
it gives visitors nearly a day and a half at 
Athens. Going thence by rail to Patras, 
which occupies about eight hours, they are 
enabled to catch the steamer at the latter port. 

The ride on the cars, although the road 
is rather rough, is extremely picturesque, 
skirting the sea most all the way ; fare twen- 
ty-five francs. The hotels at Athens are 
excellent ; rates at the Grand Bretagne and 
D'Angleterre, the two best, about seventeen 
francs a day, every thing included except 
fires. The bread, butter, coffee, and honey 
here are as good if not better than anywhere 
else in Europe, the first breakfast including 
these, with the addition of eggs ; the other 
two meals being as elaborate as at any of the 
hotels in Paris, with the addition of coffee 
after each meal, which latter beverage the 
Paris hotels do not supply. Cab fares are 
very reasonable, and in fact the city seems 
remarkably free from swindles of all kinds. 
At the Polytechnic School are all the more 

important of the discoveries of Dr. Schlie- 
25 



386 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



mann, including the famous gold ornaments 
and implements found at Mycenae, as well as 
the best collection of Etruscan and Grecian 
vases in the world. The National Museum 
contains some magnificent marbles, the gem 
of the entire collection being the small replica 
of the Athena of Phidias, in Pentelic marble, 
the figure about three and a half feet high, and 
almost perfect. 

The nine perfect days of our stay in Athens 
flew by on the wings of the wind, and with 
heavy hearts we took a last lingering farewell 
look at the Parthenon, and bade good-bye to 
the lovely city, fondly hoping some day to 
again gaze upon its many charms. We reached 
Patras in the rain, at night, nearly an hour 
late, sought the Grand Hotel de something or 
other only for a cup of tea, expecting at once 
to go on board the steamer. But no steamer 
was there. And now commenced one of those 
trying times which enter into the experience 
of all travellers. In a dirty, crowded hotel, that 
smelt to heaven — of the other place, — hour 
after hour crept slowly by, until, at midnight, 
tired out we lay down without undressing, to 
get a little much-needed rest. At four o'clock 
we were aroused with the welcome news that 



ATHENS, 



387 



the steamer had come. She proved to be the 
Jitno, a miserable overloaded tub of a vessel, 
but we made our way on board, and secured 
the one remaining stateroom, much to the 
chagrin of the dozen remaining passengers, 
who went off with us, and who were obliged 
to camp out in the main cabin. The next day 
was beautifully calm, and as we sailed along 
over the placid waters of the Gulf of Corinth, 
in full sight of Ithaca, the island home of wise 
Ulysses, we could not but feel that his return 
from distant Ilium, though so many years de- 
layed, could not have been accomplished under 
more trying circumstances than if he had made 
the trip on a modern Austrian Lloyds. 

We saw where the great battle of Actium 
was fought, and could scarcely believe that 
Cleopatra could have brought her galleys to 
the fight from far-away Alexandria over the 
tempestuous Mediterranean. We were ten 
hours late at Corfu, arriving in the evening, 
and as the wind had risen, and was blowing a 
stiff breeze, we missed the opportunity of see- 
ing that beautiful island, now become a famous 
winter resort. 

Next morning found us pitching on the 
waves of the Adriatic, more uncomfortable 



388 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



than we had been since the memorable night 
from Beyrout to Cyprus ; but as all things 
have an end, so, in the bright sunshine of that 
afternoon, at about three o'clock, we rounded 
the Brindisi light, and in ten minutes more 
all our bitter experiences of the bright blue 
sea were numbered among the things of the 
past. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 

I think, all things considered, if I had the 
Egyptian part of the trip to do over again in 
the same number of days, I should divide the 
time differently. Six days are amply sufficient 
in which to enjoy all the sights of Cairo and 
vicinity, including the Pyramids of Gezeeh, 
and omitting the drive to Heliopolis, which 
is not on a par with the rest of the sights. 
The ride, too, on the Shoobra road, which 
requires three or four hours, can also be 
omitted, since fashionable Cairo now drives 
out by the Gezireh palace. The Nilometer 
is of not the slightest interest except for its 
antiquity, being nothing more than a deep 
square hole, walled up with masonry, in the 
centre of which is a graduated column, and is 
not half so curious as the indicator in the 
Plaza at Mexico, which, supplied by water 
brought in pipes from Texcoco miles away, 

389 



390 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

shows how high the water in the lakes is 
above the level of the city. 

Of course, Cairo is a delightful city in 
which to spend a month, or three months 
even, and one could no doubt find something 
amusing for each day of a prolonged visit ; I 
merely speak of what are popularly known as 
the " sights." The extra week thus gained in a 
five-weeks' stay, allowing twenty days for the 
Nile trip (the usual time), I would spend at 
Luxor, on the way back from Assouan, return- 
ing on the next steamer, an arrangement 
which Cook & Son permit without extra 
charge. This would give one the greater' 
portion of the journey and all the sight-see- 
ing, excepting Abydos, in company with one's 
original steamer acquaintances. Four days 
are certainly not enough for Karnak and 
Thebes, and as the hotels at Luxor are as 
good, if not better than those in Cairo, and 
comfortable in every particular, the time is 
as pleasantly and far more profitably spent 
here than in the capital. 

I have heretofore intimated in a mild way 
that it is not desirable to travel from Brindisi 
to Alexandria on the Austrian Lloyds steam- 
ers. These boats are small, slow, and dirty ; 



FRACTICAL HINTS. 



391 



there is no possibility of reserving state- 
rooms unless they are paid for from Trieste 
and for the number of persons they are in- 
tended to accommodate, being generally four ; 
otherwise you simply have a berth, ladies be- 
ing four in a room, and gentlemen the same. 
From this rule there is no deviation. They 
do pretend to carry only the number of first- 
cabin passengers indicated on their diagrams, 
but in my experience with four different steam- 
ers of this line I have never known an in- 
stance where there was not always " room for 
one more." The service is grossly inadequate 
and inefficient, and the table, in part fair, is in 
many particulars atrocious, notably the bread, 
butter, coffee, tea, and generally the fish. The 
Italian steamers ply from N aples, generally very 
bad ; the Messagerie line, from Marseilles, time 
too long ; the same objection to the largest of 
the Peninsular and Oriental steamers from 
London to Alexandria ; but this Peninsular 
and Oriental line run excellent steamers from 
Brindisi to Port Said and Ismailia, and this is 
by far the best way to go. In this case it 
would be best to go by rail from Ismailia to 
Alexandria, thence to Cairo. This is per- 
haps a little more expensive than to go to 



392 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



Alexandria direct, but the additional comfort 
more than compensates for the cost. 

If one designs visiting the Holy Land, and 
in fact, making about the trip we did, I should 
advise a later start by at least two weeks from 
Cairo. The upper part of the Nile would per- 
haps be pretty warm, but February and March 
are too early to visit the other eastern points. 

The saving is considerable, about forty per 
cent., I believe, by purchasing a round-trip 
ticket on the Lloyds from Brindisi to Jaffa, 
Beyrout, Smyrna, Constantinople, Piraeus, back 
to Brindisi, but this is not to be considered as 
compared with the freedom one desires in 
that far-off land to spend more or less time 
in different places as fancy or necessity may 
dictate. 

Although we did not visit the Holy Land, 
we were as fully informed regarding the trip 
as if we had done so, and I therefore speak 
advisedly concerning it. The chances of land- 
ing at Jaffa in March are about even; if the 
landing cannot be effected, and you are car- 
ried past to Beyrout, twelve hours, I should 
certainly not go back and try it again, for in 
the event of missing it the second time you 
would be carried down to Port Said. More than 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 



393 



this, the steamship company do not agree 
to land you at Jaffa, and if they carry you by, 
they charge you from Jaffa to Beyrout $6, or 
from Jaffa to Port Said about $6.50. 

Leaving Port Said by any line you reach 
Jaffa in fourteen hours. Here I should arrange 
to go to Jerusalem by carriage, and from there, 
with a camping outfit, to Damascus direct. 
This trip in the latter part of March or early 
in April, would be simply delightful, and in 
this way the Sea of Tiberias, around which is 
the most beautiful scenery in Palestine, could 
be visited ; which is not done in the ordinary 
short trips of fifteen days from Jaffa back to 
Jaffa. The trip thus made from Jaffa to Da- 
mascus by a judicious revision of the itinerary 
as laid down by Cook & Son could be very 
easily accomplished in three weeks, and is per- 
fectly feasable for ladies unless they are in- 
valids. The cost from Jerusalem to Damascus, 
every thing included, will be about $7.50 a day 
for each person, the outfit consisting of good, 
gentle saddle-horses, tents for sleeping and 
eating, bedsteads and mattresses, bed and 
table linen, excellent fare and attendance, and 
the very best of dragomen. 

At least a week should be spent at Damas- 



394 HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 

cus, the camping outfit being dismissed here, 
and at the Hotel Victoria, price about $2.50 a 
day (every thing included), you would obtain 
an excellent local guide, while the proprietor, 
himself for twenty years a dragoman in this 
country, would supply you with all the infor- 
mation and aid necessary to make your visit 
enjoyable. About two days before leaving 
Damascus it would be well to write to Cook 
& Son at Beyrout, notifying them of the day 
you would arrive at Shtora, so that they might 
send a private carriage to meet you there on 
your return from Baalbec. You would leave 
Damascus early in the morning, 4.30, arriving 
at Shtora at 11 a.m., where you would have 
breakfast and then take another conveyance 
to Baalbec. One day and a half is enough 
possibly for Baalbec, and on coming back to 
Shtora you would meet the private carriage 
sent over from Beyrout, reaching Beyrout that 
evening in time for dinner. 

The advantages of the private carriage are 
twofold : you would not be certain of a place 
in the diligence unless you paid fare the entire 
distance from Damascus to Beyrout the second 
time ; and then the carriage is much more com- 
fortable ; time about the same. In fact it 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 



395 



would be better, although a little more expen- 
sive, to have the carriage sent from Beyrout 
to Damascus. Knowing as you would when 
writing for a carriage from Damascus, what 
day you would probably arrive in Beyrout, and 
having ascertained at Cairo or Port Said the 
sailing dates of the different steamer lines, it 
would be well to have the agent telegraph for 
berths on whatever line you proposed to take 
passage. Two days are sufficient for Beyrout 
and the trip to the Dog River (five hours). I 
will qualify what I said regarding the failure 
to land at Jaffa in this way : if you missed it 
and came past to Beyrout, you could make 
the trip to Baalbec and Damascus and back to 
Beyrout, try Jaffa again, and if you landed, 
well and good ; make a ten-day trip to Jerusa- 
lem and vicinity, then go from Jaffa to Alex- 
andria direct and take a steamer to Athens, 
from which point you could either go up to 
Constantinople and back by rail to Buda Pest, 
Vienna, and Paris — a delightful trip late in 
April or early in May — or else go across to 
Patras and Brindisi. The only object in con- 
tinuing the trip northward from Beyrout is to 
visit Cyprus, Rhodes, and the other famous 
historical islands of the Grecian Archipelago, 



396 



HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW. 



and stop at Smyrna, for a trip to Ephesus, if 
desirable. The French line makes the coast- 
ing trip around by Tripoli and Alexandretta, 
which is very pleasant if one has the time. 
The trip from Beyrout to Smyrna, including 
the stops at Cyprus, Rhodes, and Chios, oc- 
cupies four days and a half, and a day is gen- 
erally spent at Smyrna if the steamer is on 
time, which is rarely the case with the Austrian 
Lloyds. From there to Constantinople the 
time is thirty-six hours nominally ; actually 
about forty-eight, stops being made at Mity- 
lene, Gallipoli, and Tenedos. From Smyrna 
a line of steamers ply tri-weekly to Athens, 
touching at Chios ; time, twenty-three hours. 

From Brindisi an all-night ride brought us 
to Naples, and we reached Rome Sunday at 
two o'clock; found the city crowded with 
strangers, but managed to obtain shelter one 
hundred and forty-three steps above the street 
in the pleasant Hotel Royal. Met some Min- 
neapolis people in one of the churches ; heard 
indirectly that sickness had overtaken some of 
our party in Naples ; telegraphed to find it 
true, but were relieved to know that all would 
join us on Friday. The intervening days 
were pleasantly passed in visiting many places 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 



397 



of interest we had missed on our former visit, 
and Friday evening we were all reunited once 
again. 

We spent a pleasant Saturday morning to- 
gether at the Karamic Exposition, where, true 
to our instincts, we did a little bazaaring in 
the matter of Venetian glass. That night we 
bade good-bye to them all, sped away to Flor- 
ence, where we passed two pleasant days, took 
the night train for Milan, had thirty minutes 
in which to make a flying visit to the mighty 
cathedral, rode all day through the matchless 
Swiss scenery of the St. Gothard route, skirt- 
ing the shore of Lakes Lugano and Lucerne ; 
round the foot of the Rigi, and late in the 
afternoon arrived at Lucerne. An hour was 
a short time in which to buy a spoon and see 
the lion ; but we did both, with five minutes 
to spare ; rode on to Basle, where we obtained 
a sleeper, paying the outrageous price of $5.50 
a berth ; were hustled out at eleven o'clock 
to pass the French custom-house — a useless 
formality, — and at seven o'clock next morn- 
ing, Wednesday, were back in Paris. 



THE END. 



